IPL 2017 A spectacle that can no longer be denied • Last updated on Fri, 05 May, 2017, 12:39 PM Narbavie R in Delhi Watching Pant and Sanju Samson flay the Gujarat Lions` bowling attack all over Feroz Shah Kotla in a spectacular six-hitting spectacle was simply marvellous. © BCCI Talk about ending someone`s playoff chances, talk about leaving a team completely demoralised and shocked with an assault that not many saw coming their way. `What if Rishabh Pant had batted in the top order right from the beginning this season?` - This is a question that the Delhi Daredevils and cricketing fans all over the country were left to ponder over after what unfolded on Thursday (May 4). Watching Pant and Sanju Samson flay the Gujarat Lions` bowling attack all over Feroz Shah Kotla in a spectacular six-hitting spectacle was simply marvellous.

Here were two young men, both glovemen, both touted as MS Dhoni`s possible successors in India`s limited-overs sides, putting on a show that not only has managed to keep Daredevils in the hunt for a playoff spot but also left the fans longing for more. We have already seen in patches what these two can achieve, but on what was quite an important night for their side, the two young guns joined forces to cast a spell. Samson was the one who started it as early as in the third over with a swat over square leg for the first six of the innings.

Even though Karun Nair departed in the same over, Pant deposited just the second ball of his innings into the stands. Three more sixes followed in the next seven deliveries. And there was simply no end to this carnage as both batsmen kept clearing the boundary at will and matched each other shot for shot. Fathom this for a stat - 10 sixes were hit in the first 10 overs of the run chase and only four fours were hit in the same period. Quite astonishingly, 10 became 15 by the end of the 12th over and the home crowd, without a doubt, went completely berserk. Square leg, long on, deep midwicket, you name them, the ball went in that direction.

Many wondered if it was a case of dew that was helping the duo hit sixes nonchalantly. But even the opposition wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik denied the dew had any role to play in it. "It was good skill level shown by the batsmen, they were hitting boundaries at will, making the ground look smaller than what it is," he said after the game.

In total, the Daredevils managed to clear the boundary 20 times during the chase which enabled them to set a new IPL record for the most sixes in a match. In due course, a total of 208 was overhauled with 15 balls to spare in remarkable fashion. While Samson hit Ravindra Jadeja over long on and the very next ball over covers to bring up his half-century with seven sixes, Pant had already smashed eight.

Jadeja managed to send Samson back to the pavilion in his next over and had a huge smirk on his face despite the Lions completely not having any sort of stronghold on the game. Pant took just one more delivery to wipe it off with another six that took him into the nineties. It is this fearless intent that sets Pant apart. "I wasn`t thinking that I may get out or something, if the ball is bad, then you have to punish it," he said after the game. He was dejected after falling three short of his century but the fact that he couldn`t finish the game hurt him more by his own admission. Calls were only getting louder to have Pant bat at the top of the order ever since the time he walked out at No.5 and scored a half-century in the first match. The management`s persistence has perhaps hurt them big time as they went on to lose five in a row that almost derailed their campaign.

But now with the team undergoing a mini turnaround after chasing down big totals in successive matches to revive their chances, one would assume that the Daredevils wouldn`t do anything silly to self-destruct. After registering a comprehensive win on Tuesday, they were back to their old antics by making three changes to their XI. The one that raised many eyebrows was the exclusion of star all-rounder Chris Morris. Had they lost, the focus would have once again shifted to a familiar territory but thankfully for them, Samson and Pant have kept them afloat.

You know something special unfolded when the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman take to social media to sing praise of this dynamic duo in unison. And now all that the fans would ask for is not to deny them such a spectacle once again in the future by deploying some bizarre tactics in the remainder of the tournament. The sight of two batsmen with an average age of 21 providing a visual treat, that bodes well for the future of Indian cricket, is something everyone could have been treated to very early in the tournament.

There is still time though, to erase what happened in the past and create a new exciting chapter instead. On Saturday against the Mumbai Indians, at the fall of the first wicket for the Daredevils, every fan inside the Kotla and the ones in front of their TV sets would be hoping to see a young pocket sized dynamite walk out to bat to a rousing reception from the home crowd. Anything different would be a travesty. © Cricbuzz TAGS RELATED STORIES

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