IPL 2017: Rishabh Pant, Sanju Samson blitzkrieg crush GL's play-off hopes

Rishabh Pant's 97 off 43 and Sanju Samson's 31-ball 61 announce arrival of two young heroes

“What a player,” Tony Greig would have exclaimed if he witnessed Thursday night’s carnage by two supremely talented young Indian batsmen in Delhi Daredevils’ do-or-die Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Gujarat Lions on a blustery evening at the capital’s Ferozshah Kotla.

Kotla witnessed a run fest on Thursday as Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson clobbered the Gujarat Lions attack and set the platform for Delhi Daredevils’ highest even run chase. Before this, only once had a team chased more than 209 runs to win an IPL match. When Delhi stepped out to chase a mammoth total of 209 at an asking rate of 10.5 an over, few would have imagined it would reduce the required rate to less than a run a ball by the 15th over, and finish off the game with 15 balls to spare.

However, this was made possible by the heroics of Pant (97 off 43) and Samson (61 off 31).

So attractive were their knocks that it appeared to spectators they were watching a highlights package, and not live broadcast. The way Pant and Samson were competing with each other, one could easily mistake their innings for a Super Sixes competition. While Samson, who refused to hit fours and negotiated only in sixes ended with seven maximums in his 31-ball 61, local lad Pant blasted nine sixes and six fours en route to his 97 off 43 balls. Their 143-run partnership set up DD’s chase of 209, which was quite comfortably accomplished.

When Pant was dismissed for 97, he looked rather distraught for having missed his ton by a whisker – three runs short of what would have been his first IPL century. In a rare gesture, opponent skipper Suresh Raina was seen hugging and consoling the 19-year-old. This was even as it would be the first time in the 10 years of IPL that Raina would not be playing the playoffs himself. The sight was one of a veteran handing over the baton to a new hero. It was also a recognition of a rare talent that would perhaps define the future of Indian cricket. It was also a grim acceptance that his team’s IPL campaign was ending prematurely – blame it on Gujarat’s toothless bowling attack, bludgeoned into submission by Pant and Samson.

Speaking about the partnership in the post-match session, Samson said Pant’s encouraging words egged him to take the bowlers head-on. “Bhaiya jyada socho mat, bas maro (brother, don’t think too much, just hit). I think that really helped me go on,” he said.

After the commanding win, which keeps Daredevils alive in the race to playoffs, both batsmen, along with mentor Rahul Dravid, reflected on the run chase. On a jovial note, Dravid said he was glad the two young lads had not watched too much of his batting and were not influenced by his style during their growing-up days. While lauding the two youngsters for their contribution to the team’s win, Dravid also said he hoped they could stay on the next time and complete the job themselves. The Delhi Daredevil mentor shared his expectations of the two as he said, “I am a hard taskmaster (and) I hope that you guys will stay not out and finish the job next time.”