Shoaib blitzes Delhi
by Ciaran Baynes, 13 May 2008
Shoaib Akhtar announced his arrival in the Indian Premier League with an incredible three-over bowling spell of 4-11 which led his Kolkata Knight Riders side to victory over the Delhi Daredevils by 23 runs.
Akhtar, who has been banned for five years from playing for Pakistan's national team, spent the first few weeks of the competition getting himself match-fit but made an incredible entrance bowling quick and terrorising the opposition batsmen.
Earlier, Delhi themselves bowled well with Glenn McGrath going for just 22 from his allotted overs and Yo Mahesh and Farveez Maharoof both taking two wickets.
Their accurate bowling meant Salman Butt (48) and David Hussey (31) could not quite cut loose despite being settled in the middle and the total of 133-6 did not seem enough.
That was until Shoaib had blitzed through their upper order taking the wickets of all the top four, including the competition's leading scorer Gautim Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and AB de Villiers.
Sourav Ganguly then took the Rawalpindi Express out of the attack to save him to bowl an over at the death but in the end he did not need to.
Superb fielding from Laxmi Shukla and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha got rid of Tillakaratne Dilshan, the only recognised batsman who performed for Delhi (25 off 19 balls).
Then in the 18th over, the only one he bowled, Shukla took 3-6, beginning with the wicket of Ameet Mishra, who top-scored with 31, to end the innings.
There was no doubt about the man-of-the-match though and Shoaib's team showed their appreciation by chairing him off the field.