Chris Morris's night of audacity and near-heroics

It must be tough to step in to Chris Morris's shoes. The all-rounder from South Africa did everything for his team with all his might. And despite a phenomenal all-round effort that has, by his own admission, been his personal best in the shortest format of the game, Morris ended up with a wooden spoon. Moments after the ordeal, as if to rub salt on his wounds, the 'Daredevil' was brought up on the dais to analyse the heartbreaking loss against Gujarat Lions on Wednesday (April 27).

"It is just one of those days to me when the balls comes on to the middle (of the bat) from ball one. Today was my day and fortunately it worked for me," Morris noted, after his team's narrow one-run loss their first of the season at home. "It is upsetting we lost though," he added with a hint of disappointment.

The pattern of Delhi Daredevils' chase was familiar. In all the games they have won so far, one partnership, following an early wobble, has saved the day for the underdogs. On Wednesday, Dhawal Kulkarni had dismissed Sanju Samson, Quinton de Kock and Karun Nair - architects of Delhi's wins thus far - inside the powerplay. Rishab Pant momentarily made it look like it could be his day, until the debutant was undone by a Praveen Kumar stunner at deep square leg.

JP Duminy was falling short of partners. Pawan Negi had failed to live up to the expectations. Out walked Morris. Little did the 27000-odd crowd at the Feroz Shah Kotla know that they were about to witness one of the best counterattacks in T20 cricket.

At 57 for 4, Delhi were all but out of the steep chase when Morris took guard. They still had 126 runs to score. More importantly, they had only 56 balls left in the bank to do it. The writing was on the wall, but the South African was in no mood to give in so easily.

"I had a chat with Rahul (Dravid) just before I went in to bat. I said to him, 'If I'm going, I'll go from ball one'. He said, 'give yourself one or two.' But it was obvious what we needed to do."

An asking rate of over 12 can demotivate the most established of batsmen, especially in this format where the margin of error is negligible. But probably, not carrying the tag of an established finisher helped. Morris launched a barrage of sixes as many as the combined tally of all the other batsmen on the night and made it look all too easy, like it was a daily chore.

"I don't know who told you there was no pressure, there was a lot of pressure. The runs were just not coming. I just played my natural game. If the ball is in my zone, I just go after it, even if we needed say five-an-over. That's just the way I play my game. It was quite simple what I needed to do play some big shots and get some runs."

"Probably yeah, this was my best innings in T20 cricket. I could have hit one straight (to a fielder) first ball and looked like an absolute idiot." But he didn't.

Perhaps, following Dravid's advice, Morris settled in with a couple of singles but did not take long before switching gears. At the receiving end was James Faulkner. Dwayne Bravo stood blankly and watched as the ball sailed over his head and settled comfortably in the second tier of the long-off stands. Five balls later, the South African went down on one knee and swept Faulkner to clear the deep square leg fence. Another towering six. Morris had arrived.

Bravo was summoned after some animated discussions in the strategic time-out that followed. Morris pulled the penultimate ball ill-timed shot but hit with enough force - to clear the fielder at deep backward square leg.

With no respite in sight, Suresh Raina tossed the ball to Pravin Tambe, a trusted campaigner. Same result. Two consecutive sixes just over the long-on fielder's head the first time, and then into the deep midwicket stands. That was the end of Tambe for the night.

Raina had saved Kulkarni's final for death overs but he had to be brought back early, to break the Daredevil juggernaut. His luck had run out by then. Unlike his dream opening spell, Kulkarni had little success in his bid for a a breakthrough, but managed to momentarily push the asking rate above 12 again.

Morris was undeterred. Next up, Dwayne Smith was given a taste of his own medicine. Duminy was quick to turn over the strike to his belligerent countryman and was reduced to a mere spectator at the other end by the ensuing onslaught. Morris spoiled the Lions' party with three cruel sixes on the trot, each outdoing the previous, and brought up the season's fastest half-century, off 17 deliveries.

Bravo managed to break the momentum with Duminy's wicket but Morris evened out the over with a couple of boundaries.The 87-run Duminy-Morris partnership was the highlight of the night that overshadowed the Smith-MucCllum show. Irrespective of which bowler he was pitted against, Morris followed his instincts. "We targetted at the short boundary more than the bowler, actually. It was a quite a good wicket. The ball was skidding on nicely, with all the dew. So we targetted the short boundary more than anything. Instead of targeting a certain bowler, if it was in our zones, we were going to have a go at it," he would reveal later.

Chants of "Moooorris, Moooorris" echoed at the Kotla as the equation reduced to 18 required off the last 12 deliveries. Raina looked helpless. Gujarat tried as many as eight bowlers - barring McCullum and Ishan Kishan, everybody had tried their luck, only to be hammered by Morris. The momentum shifted in a matter of five overs. But such is the format. From a poistion of the strength, Gujarat saw the game snatched from their clutches by a man with a steely resolve and a brutal willow.

The captain went back to Praveen Kumar who executed his yorkers well. Four singles off the over. Sanity was restored.

Two of Delhi's costliest recruits, secured for a combined price of INR 15.5 crore, were still in the middle, keeping the hosts hopeful as they needed 14 off the last six. Morris started off with a boundary to ease the nerves. A single followed that brought Negi on strike and prompted Morris to walk up and share a tip or two with the youngster. Negi found a single to give the strike back but all did not go down well in the next three. The carnage was over and Delhi fell marginally short as Morris couldn't summon his magic one final time. It was an anti-climatic ending to an innings that dared to do the impossible, but his franchise would take heart from the fact that an unexpected hero emerged nearly unscathed from the abyss.