During the second match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kings XI Punjab and Delhi Daredevils at Mohali, Gautam Gambhir, captain of Delhi Daredevils, scored his 36th half-century. In the process, Gambhir has joined David Warner at the top as the batsman with most IPL half-centuries (36).
In which a homecoming for the Daredevils’ captain, he played in the best possible manner. Delhi’s batting was expected to revolve around their experienced captain and Gambhir played the exact innings. Having opened the batting with Colin Munro, the fall of wickets never affected Gambhir.
Gambhir first opened his hands in the real sense in the fourth over when he hit 15 runs against the left-arm spinner. Having lost Munro and in between a slow start, Gambhir scored another boundary off Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the following over. Gambhir welcomed Andre Tye in the next over with another boundary.
At the end of the powerplay, Daredevils had scored 45-1 in six overs, out of which Gambhir had contributed 34 (22). In his third over, Patel conceded another boundary against Gambhir. On the penultimate delivery of the 12th over, with a quick single off Ravichandran Ashwin on the off-side, Gambhir completed his half-century.
Gautam eventually got out on the last ball of the 15th over when his attempt to run a tight single failed against the direct hit of Rahman. He ended up scoring 55 (42) with the help of five fours and a six. Daredevils and Gambhir per se would be excited to see the captain play in such a manner. The management would want him to continue scoring runs in the same way as the season progresses.
Watch Twitter reactions on Gambhir’s innings:
Gautam Gambhir batting like a man on a mission…#IPL
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2018
.@GautamGambhir gets his 36th #IPL fifty, equals #Warner's record for the most IPL fifties 👌👏 Mr. Consistent! #KXIPvDD #Gambhir
— Kaushik LM (@LMKMovieManiac) April 8, 2018
No Matter which team he plays for.. His Form Undoubtedly remains Unaffected…. What a Knock…. STRONG mind…. @GautamGambhir….. Captain knock indeed….
— Rohit Jaiswal (@rohitjswl01) April 8, 2018
Gautam Gambhir is one of the better top-order batsmen against spin. Virat Kohli perhaps the only one ahead of him, atleast amongst Indian bats. Rohit probably at par mostly on account of his six-hitting ability… #IPL2018
— Chetan Narula (@chetannarula) April 8, 2018
You can't argue the value of experience more. @GautamGambhir continues from where he left last year in purple. Looks in ominous touch. #KXIPvDD
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) April 8, 2018
50 for the captain. @GautamGambhir 👏🏼
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) April 8, 2018
