20 overs Delhi Daredevils 231 for 4 (Sehwag 77, Warner 77, Rao 28*) v Kings XI Punjab Delhi Daredevils will finally feel they are playing at home. With players such as Virender Sehwag, David Warner and Morne Morkel in the side, they had been frustrated enough by lifeless home tracks that make stroke-play and pace bowling difficult. Before this game Sehwag demanded pace, and then in company with Warner showed just why, adding 146 for the first wicket in 11.4 overs, an ideal platform for the first 200-plus total of the tournament.
With the ball coming on on this green pitch, both 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 six off the fourth delivery of a David Hussey over. Sehwag even dived, one of the very few times he would have ever committed that unbecoming act while batting, to bring up his fifty off 28 deliveries, one fewer that Warner took to reach his.
Warner did so with a trademark pull deep into the stands, his second pulled six and third overall. Sehwag was 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 Praveen Kumar for four, and then cutting him for the same result. 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 out of 35 for 0 after four overs.
The floodgates were just about opening 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, and Delhi to 128. Then came on Hussey, Punjab's expensive signing, playing his first game this IPL. Sehwag showed disdain for spin through sixes over long-on, cow corner and midwicket. A mis-hit off the fourth ball some decorum to the proceedings, with only 38 coming in the next 5.2 overs.
Those 5.2 overs also included Warner's wicket for 77 off 48. Temporary relief. Lull between storms. Harris came back to get his figures rearranged, ending with 48 off four to join two other mates with 40-plus to their names. Venugopal Rao and Naman Ojha took 47 off the last three overs to post Delhi's highest total in all IPLs.
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