Raina's short-ball troubles and Jadeja's limp throw

Zaheer Khan induced a regulation edge as Dwayne Smith pushed at a delivery that slanted across him. Fortunately for Delhi Daredevils, there was a slip in place. Unfortunately for them it was a wide slip. JP Duminy and Quinton de Kock, the wicketkeeper, watched in disbelief as the ball flew between them and a genuine wicket-taking opportunity was lost. The first over yielded 18 runs - Daredevils' worst in all IPLs held in India.

It's the advantage of being captain, perhaps, that Zaheer continued putting his men at unusual places. He was bowling back-of-a-length in the third over to Brendon McCullum, so having a man for the pull made sense. The only other fielder who could be placed in the deep was at cover. Daredevils had hoped to exploit Smith's problem with the swinging ball; now they wanted to turn one of McCullum's strengths into a weakness. Both plans had merit. Both sucked the batsman into a mistake - McCullum did not keep his cut down and the ball zeroed in on deep cover. Neither came to fruition. Sanju Samson had run in, misjudging the power of the shot, dropped the catch and conceded a six.

Mid-on was almost right behind Chris Morris as he ran in to Suresh Raina. Fielding teams employ that tactic when they expect the batsman to top-edge a short ball. Raina knows how quick bowlers like to bounce him out and retaliates by hopping outside the line to flick or pull, but Daredevils had a plan for that too. Even if it was the 12th over, with the opposition at 117 for 2, they had Karun Nair at leg gully knowing wickets were their only way back into the contest. And they got one as Raina helpfully nudged a short ball off his hip straight to Nair.

And it came from Ravindra Jadeja, who possesses one of the strongest arms in Indian cricket. That was why he was placed on the straight boundary for the final over when Daredevils needed 14 to win. Morris swung the fourth ball to long-on and began trotting across for a single, which may have lulled Jadeja into looping his throw to the wicketkeeper. Sensing the opportunity for a second before the ball arrived to Dinesh Karthik, Morris and Pawan Negi sprinted through. The next one was drilled to Jadeja again, and this time he sent a rocket throw, only it came on the half-volley to Karthik who could not collect it cleanly. Two run-out chances to dismiss the set batsman were missed to give Morris strike for the last ball with Daredevils needing four. Luckily Bravo nailed the yorker and Lions sneaked through.