By Jamie Alter
There was green on the Kotla wicket, as Virender Sehwag demanded, and having been asked to have first use of it by Adam Gilchrist, the Delhi Daredevils captain paved the way for a huge total with a 35-ball 77. His opening partner David Warner was equally brutal, smashing 77 off 48 as DD surged to a franchise-best total of 231.
Published: Apr 23, 2011, 09:43 PM (IST)
Edited: Apr 23, 2011, 09:43 PM (IST)
Delhi set Punjab 232 for victory
By Jamie Alter
New Delhi: April 23, 2011
There was green on the Kotla wicket, as Virender Sehwag demanded, and having been asked to have first use of it by Adam Gilchrist, the Delhi Daredevils captain paved the way for a huge total with a 35-ball 77. His opening partner David Warner was equally brutal, smashing 77 off 48 as DD surged to a franchise-best total of 231.
The lowest the run rate ever got was seven after the second over, and the openers ensured that was an aberration during 20 overs of video-game style hitting.
Praveen Kumar, the star with the ball during the win over Rajasthan Royals, was taken to task in an opening spell which included some good deliveries but a lot more trash. First Warner smashed two fours in the first over when Praveen held back the length. When Praveen moved the ball away gently, Sehwag played and missed and then edged to third man; when he moved it back in sharply, a cramped Sehwag somehow managed to cut to backward point.
But when Praveen bowled rubbish, Sehwag took full toll. A full ball on middle and leg was flicked through midwicket, a full toss was tonked back past mid-on, and two wide deliveries duly cracked past point as Praveen was left to nurse figures of 3-0-38-0.
Shalabh Srivastava, in for Bhargav Bhatt, fared little better with an opening over that cost 17 including five wides, a flowing straight six and a top-edged four, both to Warner. Thus, after the Powerplay, DD sat pretty at 70 for 0.
Warner welcomed Abhishek Nayar and Piyush Chawla with boundaries to move into the forties, and brought up his half-century off 29 balls when Paul Valtathy dropped short and craned his neck to follow the trajectory of a pulled six. For good measure, Warner brought up DD’s hundred with a steered four through gully in the same over. Shockingly, Srivastava, Nayar, Chawla and Valtathy had conceded 51 in four overs.
The carnage continued with Sehwag surging past Warner with four sixes in six balls, three off successive deliveries from David Hussey. Long-on, deep midwicket and deep square leg were pinged with alarming brutality, and attempting a fourth six off Hussey, Sehwag picked out deep midwicket for 77 off just 35 balls. After four indifferent innings, Sehwag had roared to life.
DD were stalled somewhat by the wickets of Yogesh Nagar and more importantly Warner for 77, both batsmen caught on the boundary rope by Ryan Harris, and slumped when Aaron Finch too picked out a fielder in the deep.
Had Warner stayed till the end 250 was definitely on, but they will be extremely pleased with their total, aided at the end by Venugopal Rao injecting 28 off 15 and Naman Ojha 19 off eight. Fleetingly, KXIP had started to recover but DD had the final say, taking 47 off the last three overs.
Brief Scores: DD 231 for 4 in 20 overs (David Warner 77, Virender Sehwag 77; David Hussey 1 for 19, Abhishek Nayar 1 for 22, Piyush Chawla 1 for 36, Praveen Kumar 1 for 45) v KXIP.
(Jamie Alter is a freelance cricket writer, having worked at ESPNcricinfo and All Sports Magazine. His first book, The History of World Cup Cricket, is out now. His twitter feed is @jamie_alter)
Pictures © AFP & Getty Images
