Hooda extends Daredevils' hoodoo

Rajasthan Royals were 85 for 4 at the end of 12 overs; 100 off target. Ajinkya Rahane, the opener, was anchoring the innings but Delhi Daredevils' legspin combination was not allowing any easy runs. Imran Tahir had trapped Stuart Binny leg before with that unreadable googly. Amit Mishra had sent back the dangerous Steven Smith in his first over and outsmarted Karun Nair in his second with a well-flighted leg break - a fitting riposte after being taken for two fours earlier.

This was the situation when the youngest player of this IPL season so far, 19-year-old Deepak Hooda, walked in. He recognised Mishra's threat and saw him out, but he met Angelo Mathews' medium pace with a neat clip. Two runs taken.

Then some clever strategy. Hooda exposed his stumps to try and disrupt Mathews' plans, and it worked. Fourth ball of the over Mathews bowled one fuller on leg stump and was launched for a massive six over long-on. Next ball, Hooda shuffled across again and flicked it for four. Even when Mathews tried to beat Hooda's premeditation by bowling wider outside off, the batsman nailed a boundary through point. Nineteen runs came in that one over and transformed the Royal's chase, along with their intent.

Royals asked for the time out, and upon resumption, Daredevils threw the ball to Yuvraj Singh. When he had walked out to bat in the afternoon, the Kotla crowd had given the most expensive buy of this IPL as raucous a welcome as Sachin Tendulkar used to get. And, once again, the screams began: "Yuvi, Yuvi, Yuvi."

The first three balls cost three singles and Hooda pushed the fourth straight at point. He showed no intentions of wanting a run, as his bowed head indicated, but having heard his senior partner Rahane call for one, he had no choice but to respond.

Hooda started late and had to cover a lot of ground. The throw went to Yuvraj, who was quick to position himself in front of the stumps, at a good angle to knock the bails off. Only that never happened because Yuvraj fumbled the throw, and Hooda escaped. Instantly, memories of AB de Villiers fluffing a similar run out during the World Cup semi-finals came to the mind. Hooda was on 23.

Next ball of the over, Rahane pulled Yuvraj over the deep midwicket fence. The target was down to 70 from the final six overs. It would become 55 after Hooda clubbed left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat for consecutive sixes, having once again moved outside off stump. The second six, though, should not have happened. Manoj Tiwary, fielding at deep square leg, had covered good ground to get under the ball, but ended up relaying it over the ropes.

With the pressure back on them, Daredevils captain JP Duminy went back to his go-to bowler Tahir and the move worked. Rahane ran past a googly and lost his stumps. The stadium was swaying with excitement. No one knew what was coming next. Tahir was thumping his chest and asking them to believe in him. Two balls later though, Hooda charged the South African spinner and thumped another huge six high over long-on and the crowd fell silent. A decent over from Mishra held the game in balance with the target now 36 from the final three overs. The next over would make or break the game.

And Duminy faltered by giving it to the seamer Nathan Coulter-Nile. James Faulkner, the best finisher in limited-overs cricket at the moment, flayed the first ball over the keeper. Two balls later, Hooda came on strike and met with a well-directed short ball cramping him for room. It was a good plan and Hooda, who had advanced down the pitch, was surprised by the bounce and line. He adjusted quickly, though, moving slightly inside the line to tap the ball past the wicketkeeper for the second four of the over. It brought him a fifty and importantly Royals now just needed only 19 runs from the final two overs.

Tahir and Mishra had shown pace off the ball worked. That if you attack the batsman and bowl your best balls you still held the upper hand. Considering Mishra had been bowled out, Duminy's conundrum was whether to throw the ball to Tahir or ask Yuvraj to bowl again. He wanted to preserve his match-winner for the final two overs, and he did not have enough confidence in Yuvraj.

Hooda did hole out to Tahir's bowling in the penultimate over, but the new man Chris Morris slog swept his first ball for a monstrous six. Tahir made amends immediately, bowling Faulkner to go for another of his sprints and for the second time in three days, Daredevils had taken the match to the final delivery.

In Chennai, Albie Morkel's heroics taken them six feet of victory. Today with three runs needed Mathews charged in to bowl from round the stumps. Tim Southee knew the plan. The fine leg was up. The fielder in the deep on the leg side had been brought into the circle. Mathews was aiming for the yorker. The whole of Kotla stood up in expectation.

Without any feet movement, Southee punched the fuller-length delivery to the right of cover and also beat the charging long-off for a four.

Yuvraj was the fielder at cover. As the fans vacated in a state of shock, Yuvraj stood his ground. His right hand was wrapped around his neck and his face forlorn. After the defeat in the first match against Super Kings, Daredevils had said it was a game of small margins. They are yet to fill those margins.