Ashutosh blitz helps Delhi down Lucknow in IPL thriller
Ashutosh Sharma
Ashutosh, an impact substitute on debut for Delhi, lifted his new team from a precarious 65-5 to achieve their target of 210 with three balls to spare in Visakhapatnam.
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Needing 22 off the final two overs and six off the last six balls with one wicket remaining, Ashutosh stood strong and hit the winning six.
Delhi were 7-3 in the second over, and had lost half their side for 65 when Faf du Plessis got out on 29 in his first match for the franchise.
New captain Axar Patel hit a quickfire 22 and Tristan Stubbs smashed 34.
When Stubbs was bowled by Manimaran Siddharth, the ball after hitting consecutive sixes, the game looked up with Delhi 113-6 and requiring 97 runs off 7.3 overs.
But Ashutosh and IPL debutant Vipraj Nigam, who hit 39 off 15 balls, struck flurry of boundaries to revive the chase with a partnership of 55 off 22 balls.
Nigam fell in the 17th over and Lucknow lost two more wickets but Ashutosh justified the faith of new mentor Kevin Pietersen, who had predicted during the innings break that the big-hitter would come up with something special.
Ashutosh sparkled in his first IPL campaign last year for Punjab Kings in a finisher's role, but initially showed restraint on Monday as he reached 20 from his first 20 deliveries.
When wickets fell around him he opened his shoulders, clubbing 46 from the final 11 balls he faced.
With six needed off the final over, number 11 Mohit Sharma narrowly avoided being stumped when the ball brushed his pad as he stepped out of his crease and Lucknow captain Rishabh Pant could not take the ball cleanly behind the stumps.
The batters managed to scramble a single off the next delivery, leaving the stage clear for Ashutosh to seal a dramatic win by smashing Shahbaz Ahmed for his fifth six.
Earlier, Lucknow posted 209-8 batting first despite losing a flurry of wickets after an 87-run stand between Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran.
Australia all-rounder Marsh attacked from the off in his first competitive outing after a back injury which forced him to miss the recent Champions Trophy.
Marsh, who is playing in this IPL only as a batter, hit six fours and six sixes in his 36-ball 72.
He lost his opening partner Aiden Markram early but then put on a brilliant partnership with Pooran, who struck 75 off just 30 deliveries.
Pant flopped on his first outing for Lucknow, facing his former team Delhi for whom he played in eight IPL seasons.
Pant was dismissed for a six-ball duck off Kuldeep Yadav's left-arm wrist spin.
Pant parted ways with Delhi and Lucknow signed him for a record $3.21 million in the November auction.
Mitchell Starc bowled Pooran to trigger a mid-innings Lucknow collapse.
Starc, who missed the Champions Trophy for personal reasons, took three wickets, while Kuldeep returned impressive figures of 2-20 in his four overs.
