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| GREAT KNOCK: Delhi Daredevils batsman Virender Sehwag plays a shot during the IPL Twenty20 match against Kochi Tuskers at The Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi. (AFP |
Virender Sehwag smashed a 47-ball 80 on a difficult pitch to set up Delhi Daredevils’ 38-run win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala in an Indian Premier League match yesterday.
The skipper hit five sixes and eight fours as Delhi posted 157-7 before dismissing Kochi for 119 for their third victory in eight matches of the Twenty20 tournament.
Delhi pacemen did the maximum damage, with South African Morne Morkel emerging the most successful bowler with 3-18 off four overs. Seamers Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar each took two wickets.
South African left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe completed the victory when he bagged the last three wickets in one over.
Ravindra Jadeja (31) and Australian Brad Hodge (27) were the main run-getters for Kochi, who suffered their fifth defeat in eight matches.
Delhi were struggling at 35-3 after electing to bat on a slow track where the ball sometimes kept low, but opener Sehwag steadied the innings with a 56-run stand for the fourth wicket with Yogesh Nagar (22).
Sehwag stepped up the run-rate after his team managed just 46 runs in the opening 10 overs, hitting left-arm spinner Jadeja for two successive sixes. He scored 49 runs off the last 15 balls he faced. The Delhi captain completed his half-century in style, pulling seamer Vinay Kumar over mid-wicket for a six. He fell in the 18th over attempting another big shot, caught in the deep off Kumar. Sehwag put on 41 for the fifth wicket with Australian Travis Brit, who contributed a 13-ball 20 with the help of one six and two fours.
Fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth earlier jolted Delhi with two wickets in his opening over as he bowled Australian David Warner and then trapped Naman Ojha lbw with deliveries that kept low.
Man of the match and Delhi skipper Sehwag speaking after the match said, “Wicket was not easy to bat on and I took the responsibility of batting out 15-16 overs. I was hitting the ball nicely and I decided to bat longer. I told myself to stay longer at the wicket and we went past 120-130. I told the bowlers to bowl in the right areas and they did a fantastic job.”
A dejected Kochi skipper Mahela Jayawardene felt that 130-140 was a competitive score to chase down, but 160 was tough. “Viru batted really well. We did not have any control of things in the last 10 overs. It was the low bounce that unsettled us. We all tried to play straight but it was tough. We did not bowl in the right areas and we did not hit the deck. Can’t take anything away from Sehwag.”