Virender Sehwag (80 off 47 balls) played a captain's knock on a difficult wicket to steer Delhi Daredevils to a 38-run win over Kochi Tuskers in their Indian Premier League match here Saturday. Sehwag, who had been critical of his poor form this season, single-handedly took the team to 157 for seven on a pitch of uneven bounce with some of the deliveries shooting through. Chasing under the circumstances was always going to be hard for the Tuskers and they folded up for 119
Virender Sehwag (80 off 47 balls) played a captain's knock on a difficult wicket to steer Delhi Daredevils to a 38-run win over Kochi Tuskers in their Indian Premier League match here Saturday.
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Sehwag, who had been critical of his poor form this season, single-handedly took the team to 157 for seven on a pitch of uneven bounce with some of the deliveries shooting through.
Chasing under the circumstances was always going to be hard for the Tuskers and they folded up for 119 in 18.5 overs. Morne Morkel (3/18), Roelf Vand der Merwe (3/20) and Irfan Pathan (2/27) bowled in the right areas to get Daredevils home.u00a0
The win has pushed the Delhi side to seventh place in the table with six points from eight matches. The Tuskers also have same points, but they are placed ninth.u00a0
The Tuskers were under pressure from ball one and it showed with their main batsman Brendon McCullum (7) getting out straightaway to a rash shot off Pathan. The low bounce also got the better of Patel (1) and when captain Mahela Jaywawardene was caught by his counterpart off Agarkar, the match seemed to have slipped out of Tuskers' grasp.
Brad Hodge (27) and Ravindra Jadeja (31) provided some resistance but getting 78 off last 36 balls seemed like a mountain to climb.u00a0
Earlier, Daredevils did well to post a 150-plus score after being at 45 for three in the first 10 overs. David Warner (3) and Naman Ojha (1) were victims of the pitch with Sreesanth's deliveries keeping awfully low, especially in the case of Ojha as he was adjudged leg before getting the ball on his toe. A 100 plus score looked improbable at that time but Sehwag came to the rescue as he batted beyond 15 overs for the first time in the tournament.u00a0
Batting patiently on a challenging wicket, Sehwag smashed the bowlers in his trademark style after getting used to the variable bounce.u00a0
The India opener got to his 50 with a maximum on a slow bouncer off Vinay Kumar and departed in the 18th over trying to hit another one out of the park.
It was a remarkable recovery from the visitors as they amassed 112 runs in the last 10 overs, of which 63 came off the last 30 balls. Yogesh Nagar (22) and Travis Birt (20) made useful contributions towards the end.
Kumar, Balachandra Akhil and Rajesh Powar proved most expensive for the Tuskers as they conceded 83 runs in their eight overs.
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