Delhi
finally feels like home for Delhi Daredevils. With players such as
Virender Sehwag, David Warner and Morne Morkel in the side, they had
been frustrated by lifeless home tracks that made stroke-play and pace
bowling difficult. Before this game Sehwag demanded pace, and then in
the company of Warner showed just why. They added 146 for the first
wicket in 11.4 overs, an ideal platform for a comfortable win despite an
equally remarkable innings by Shaun Marsh, and despite the continuing
good luck of Kings XI Punjab's openers who were both dropped on nought.
With
the ball coming on well on this green pitch, Warner and Sehwag let the
bowlers feel their wrath. They were like beasts who had been uncaged
after years of confinement, gorging on anything remotely loose. It is a
scary thought to imagine what Sehwag would have managed had he not got
out for 77 off 35, trying a fourth successive six off the fourth
delivery of a David Hussey over. Sehwag even dived into his crease, one
of the very few times he has committed that unbecoming act while
batting, to bring up his half-century off 28 deliveries, one fewer that
Warner took to reach his.
Warner
got to his landmark with a trademark pull deep into the stands, his
second pulled six and third overall. Sehwag was on only 36 then. It
takes some special hitting to dominate the strike and still not
frustrate Sehwag. Warner managed that nicely. He began in earnest in the
first over, pulling and cutting Praveen Kumar for fours. Ryan Harris
managed to trouble him for a bit with the extra bounce, but Warner's
comeback was emphatic: a huge pull over midwicket to end Harris' spell
of 2-0-13-0 in a score of 35 for 0 after four overs.
The
floodgates had just begun to open then. Sehwag tucked into Praveen with
three fours in the fifth over, Warner went down on a knee and lofted
Shalabh Srivastava's medium-pace over the sightscreen. The middle overs
and spread fields mattered little as both batsmen moved to 59 each by
the end of the 11th over. Enter Hussey, Punjab's expensive signing,
playing his first game this IPL. Sehwag showed his famous disdain for
spin through sixes over long-on, cow corner and midwicket. A mis-hit off
the fourth ball brought some decorum to the proceedings, with only 38
coming in the next 5.2 overs.
That
phase included Warner's wicket for 77 off 48 balls. Temporary relief.
Lull between storms. Harris came back to have his figures rearranged,
ending with 48 off four to join two other colleagues with 40-plus
aggregates to their names. Venugopal Rao and Naman Ojha took 47 off the
last three overs to post the third-highest total in IPL history, and Delhi's biggest.
Morkel
made a further show of why a pitch with bounce suits Delhi more. He got
lift, he got movement, he got an edge second ball, one that was dropped
by Ojha. However, Morkel's first spell of three overs for 20, four of
which came through a misfield and 10 off free hits, left Punjab an
asking rate of 13.2. A period of superb hitting followed, but despite 57
coming off the next four overs, they were just about keeping up with
the rate. A five-run over from James Hopes turned the pressure back on,
forcing Gilchrist to slog debutant Varun Aaron and miss.
Marsh
batted beautifully for his 46-ball 95, fetched mainly through proper
cricketing shots in an innings that deserved to be on the winning side.
He, though, was swimming against the current, and the current won.
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