The 50th match of the IPL 2009 was contested on 17th May 2009 at OUTsurance Oval, Bloemfontein between Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils. The toss was won by Delhi and they opted to bat first.
The rescue act by de Villiers and Dilshan
The pitch at Bloemfontein supported both spin and pace. Munaf Patel realized this in his first over and decided to keep the deliveries straight and on a length. He reaped the fruits in his second over by getting rid of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir and pushing Delhi to 2 for 15 in 2.5 overs. Thereafter, Delhi recovered, mainly due to a good collaboration between AB de Villiers and Tillakratne Dilshan. During the first ten overs, Shane Warne had set an attacking field and it was frequently observed that de Villiers and Dilshan were successful in perforating the field. The loose deliveries were getting punished. When the pitch was demanding full length deliveries, Siddharth Trivedi bowled wide and short balls which were dispatched to the boundary.
Later, Warne extruded plenty of spin from the slow track and Botha blended speed and flight. While facing these spinners, de Villiers and Dilshan avoided cross-batted shots, resorted to pushing the ball in the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles. This was not a very easy period for Delhi. Dilshan, particularly, was comfortable while facing this spin attack and relied on cutting and flicking the ball. When he was on 16, he was dropped by Botha. However, in the 17th over, Dilshan was bowled by Botha. Dilshan faced 41 deliveries and with the aid of 1 boundary accrued 33 runs.
De Villiers talent for performing the rescue job came in handy in this match. It was a much matured innings from him and he was the leader during the 3rd wicket partnership between him and Dilshan. After the ten over break, he became slightly aggressive and punished Abhishek Raut and Ravindra Jadeja for first ball boundaries.
Karthik quickly adds runs
After Dilshan’s dismissal, Dinesh Karthik walked to the pitch and quickly got in the act. Karthik and de Villiers posted 48 runs in just 20 balls. Karthik faced only 11 balls and contributed 23 runs inclusive of 1 sixer and 1 four. At the end of 20 overs, Delhi had collected 150 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. Considering the conditions of the pitch, this was a competitive total.
Royals innings
The fielders of Delhi placed on the boundary latched on the vital early catches. Aavishkar Salvi at third man took the important catch of Graeme Smith in the second over. In the third over, Rob Quiney pulled the ball to fine leg and was caught by Dirk Nannes. Naman Ojha also departed quickly and the Royals were struggling at 24 for 3. Thereafter, Botha kept one end secure, but never looked menacing. From the last ten overs, the team needed 91 runs. Yusuf Pathan disappointed with the bat and after facing 5 deliveries returned to the pavilion on a personal score of 1. This wicket set the match in Delhi’s favor. In Amit Mishra’s final over, three dismissals took place.
Delhi Daredevils won this match by 14 runs. AB de Villiers was chosen as the Man of the Match for remaining unbeaten on 79 off 55 balls.