With little help from Zaheer Khan, Nathan Coulter-Nile sinks KXIP

Zaheer, on his part, decided to wait. He had been in this game long enough to understand what a premature return could do to the body. So, while Delhi huffed and puffed, Zaheer worked on his fitness. On Friday afternoon at the Feroze Shah Kotla, it showed. Two wickets, exquisitely worked out like only he can, announced the return of the left-arm pacer. The pace may have dropped considerably, but the mind is sharp as ever, as did the line, length and swing.

Zaheer took the new ball against Kings XI Punjab and provided a platform for Delhi to build on by removing the dangerous Virender Sehwag. It was against the same opponents that Zaheer had played his last match, on May 3, 2014. Then he was with the Mumbai Indians. But switching sides to Delhi, Zaheer showed he hadn’t lost much. It was always going to be an interesting battle between Zaheer and Sehwag. But none had a clue Sehwag would be worked out within the span of one delivery. That’s one talent Zaheer possessed throughout his illustrious career that fetched him 300 Test wickets and 282 ODI scalps. Friday showed he is not ready to let that go.

Immediately after bowling the first delivery, Zaheer could see the ball was not coming on to the bat nicely, forcing Sehwag to scoop it over the cover fielder. Zaheer knew what it was going to be. His plan was to pitch it up as much as possible. Despite very little pace, his swing and length are still lethal. Next delivery Zaheer angled it in to Sehwag, who by then had moved out of the leg stump to make room. The trajectory of the swing was so steep that he found himself in an awkward position and couldn’t control his shot. Angelo Matthews at point did the rest.

Daredevils were ecstatic as they knew they had got the big man. But Zaheer wasn’t over yet. After JP duminy had reduced Punjab to 9/2, Zaheer found himself staring down at two new batsmen on the crease — Wriddhiman Saha and Manan Vohra. It was time for him to have some fun. Ball after ball the two had no clue to the 36-year-old pacer.

After four dot balls Vohra got frustrated and jumped out towards leg. Zaheer caught him off-guard and hit the deck hard, rolling his fingers over the ball. Vohra tried to anticipate the quick bounce but couldn’t do much as the ball kissed his edge softly. Zaheer was two up and Punjab were three down. The rest was a breeze, well almost.

Miller’s effort

Punjab were four down inside the fourth over when David Miller walked in. Usually his job is to score briskly. But today he started cautiously. At 30/4, he was expected to stem the rot. Soon that score read 46/6 and most of Punjab’s recognised batsmen were back in the hut. Together with Axar Patel, Miller started to build the innings. The duo added 57 runs for the seventh wicket and helped Punjab move past the 100-run mark. Miller hit four boundaries and a six in his run-a-ball 42 and it was mainly his effort that Punjab reached 118.

Opening stand

The target was never a difficult one. Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal began briskly and soon Delhi were cruising along nicely. The opening pair enjoyed their time in the middle and cut all the risk before going after the bowlers. Iyer reached his third fifty of the season and went on to register a 100-run opening stand with Agarwal, who also got to his second half century this season. The win takes Delhi up to fourth on the table.