Dinda, Zampa set up Supergiants win over Daredevils

A steady start by Ajinkya Rahane (42 not out) and Usman Khawaja (19) built upon the superb bowling effort by medium pacer Ashok Dinda (3 for 20) and leg-spinner Adam Zampa (3 for 21) as Rising Pune Supergiants picked up a 19-run victory using Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-shortened affair yesterday.
Asked to bat, Delhi batsmen struggled and were restricted to 121 for six in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply, Rahane and Khawaja were cruising along before hitting a slight bump in the fourth over with the latter being sent back after Shreyas Iyer caught the Pakistani-born Australian batsman at backward point off the bowling of South African all-rounder Chris Morris. Khawaja’s 13-ball innings included four hits to the ropes.
Rain halted play for an hour in the ninth over, at which point Pune had 53 on the board for the loss of a wicket as opposed to the par score of 42.
Play was called off at the end of the 11th over at which point, a couple of strong hits by Rahane, had taken his team to 76, while the par score was 57.
"Fast bowlers bowled well, and they give a platform for the spinners,” Pune captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said at the presentation ceremony. “It's good to see them bowl as a unit together. We were worried about who is our best bowling option. It gives us that comfort level for the next season. Next game we have to give a chance to the new bowlers.”
Earlier, Karun Nair (41 off 43 deliveries) anchored Delhi's innings, while Morris made a quick-fire 38 in just 20 balls towards the end to help his side cross the 120-run mark.
Delhi got off to a bad start, losing openers Quinton de Kock (2) and Iyer (8) inside five overs to Dinda. While left-hander De Kock was plumb in front of the stumps, Iyer attempted a bad pull as he was caught at deep square leg by Khawaja.
Fellow seamers, Deepak Chahar (13-0), Irfan Pathan (17-0) and Thisara Perera (27-0) stuck to their task, and kept a tight line and length as Delhi struggled to up the run rate.
Nair provided some calmness in the middle but the pressure exerted by the seamers followed by the spinners -- Zampa and Ravichandran Ashwin -- took a toll on the rest of the batsmen.
Sanju Samson (10) was stumped by Dhoni off leg-spinner Zampa, while Rishabh Pant (4) was caught by Perera at long off Ashwin as Delhi reeled at 62 for 4 in 13 overs.
Later, Nair fell as his sweep missed the line off Zampa and kissed the front pad and the umpire didn't hesitate to rule him out leg before wicket (LBW) -- with the score at 70 for 5 in 14.3 overs. Nair hit five fours.
Dinda returned to dismiss Jean-Paul Duminy (14) to put a check on Delhi's scoring even at the death.
Morris hit two sixes and a four in the final over bowled by Perera to help his side reach 121 for 6.
BRIEF SCORES: Delhi Daredevils 121 for 6 in 20 overs(Karun Nair 41, Chris Morris 38; Ashok Dinda 3-20, Adam Zampa 3-21) lost to Rising Pune Supergiants 76 for 1 in 11 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 42 not out; Chris Morris 1-12) by 19 runs (D/L Method)

Australia’s Maxwell returns home injured from IPL

Reuters/Melbourne
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell  has suffered a side strain in the Indian Premier League and will head home to recover before the West Indies tour, Cricket Australia said yesterday.
Maxwell had “increasing soreness in his left abdomen area” after playing for Kings XI Punjab, CA said in a statement.
“From the information we have so far, the injury doesn’t appear to be something that will prevent Glenn from participating in this tour, but we are keen to give him the necessary time to recover before departing to the West Indies at the end of this month,” a CA physiotherapist said.
The hard-hitting 27-year-old becomes the fifth Australia player to leave the Indian Twenty20 tournament early following the departures of captain Steve Smith, John Hastings and Mitchell and Shaun Marsh.
Australia play West Indies and South Africa in a triangular one-day international tournament starting on June 5.