Mayank Gusain, Aayush Singh power Purani Dilli 6 to victory in DPL

Purani Dilli 6 probably took a leaf out of the book of Central Delhi Kings on leadership. The change of captain brought luck on Tuesday as the team scored their third win to keep their chances of advancing alive. The old Delhiites, led by Arpit Rana instead of the experienced Lalit Yadav, defeated North Delhi Strikers by 20 runs.

However, it may have been another loss had Mayank Gusain not played an innings befitting wonderment and taken Purani Dilli 6 to their eventual 192/6 in 20 overs.

The right-hander Gusain, who learnt the ropes in Vidya Jain Academy and is coached by Naresh Jain, came into bat in the 18th over after Purani Dilli 6 had lost the early initiative. After reaching 100 in 10.2 overs, they crawled to 150 in 17.2 overs – their third fifty coming in seven overs – and reaching 175 would have been a task from there.  

Coming into bat in 17.3 overs, with only 15 balls left in the innings, Gusain hit five sixes on way to 12-ball 40 and took Purani Dilli 6 to their eventual 192.

“I was just seeing the ball and hitting it. I had been practicing for this only – that is, I should cash in on the last one or two overs. I want to thank the support staff, especially Vijay Dahiya, for keeping faith in me. I have just given an example of it,” said the 22-year-old Gusain.

Pace bowler Aayush Singh, who represents Sonnet, then picked the first five wicket haul of the Delhi Premier League, to restrict the North Delhiites to 172/7 in 20 overs.

The right-arm pacer took three wickets early on to reduce the Strikers to 39/3.  

A partnership of 55 from 30 balls between Yajas Sharma (41 off 20 balls) and Vaibhav Kandpal (57 off 44 balls) kept the Strikers in the game but the run-out of Sharma by Dev Kashyap came as a jolt.

Kandpal then had a 41-run partnership off 28 balls with Vaibhav Rawal (32 off 17) to keep the Strikers in the game. But Rawal too was run out.

Pacer Singh then wrapped up the innings picking Kandpal and Pranshu Vijayran, ending with figures of 5/27.

“Our Head Coach had told us to execute the plans and not try anything extra. So I didn’t try anything extra, and executed the plans,” said Ayush. 

Yadav had stepped down from captaincy to focus on batting and bowling, and wanted to lessen the burden on him. 

Brief Scores

Purani Dilli 6 192/6 in 20 overs (Sanat Sangwan 47, Arpit Rana 42, Mayank Gusain 42 not out, Arnav Bugga 39, Vaibhav Kandpal 2/28) beat North Delhi Strikers 172/7 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Kandpal 57, Yajas Sharma 41, Vaibhav Rawal 32, Aayush Singh 5/27)  

Tags : Delhi Premier League, Cricket, Mayank Gusain, Aayush Singh, Purani Dilli 6, North Delhi Strikers, Arun Jaitley Stadium, Ferozeshah Kotla