A clinical Delhi Daredevils bumped Chennai Super Kings off the No. 1 spot and ended Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 100% win record at the IPL with an eight-wicket win in Chennai. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir’s century partnership took the game away from Chennai in the first 12 overs.
Unlike Chennai’s top order, which relied on wild shots, often mis-timed, to get boundaries, Gambhir and Sehwag scored in masterful fashion. Often in their partnerships, even in Tests, the two look like they have a private bet running on who can score faster. Today Sehwag won it hands down as he raced to his fifty off 24 balls.
With net run-rate deciding which team would be No. 1, Sehwag wasted no time in teeing off the chase at the venue where recently he hit his second triple-century. He slashed Makhaya Ntini for a six off the fourth ball of the innings and followed it up in the next over with two more off Manpreet Gony. Joginder Sharma was taken for 19 runs in his first over as Sehwag hit a six and two fours. He fell, when 55 were needed off 52 balls, trying to replicate his first six.
Gambhir may have looked subdued in comparison to Sehwag but he was in a mood to attack as well. He drove and pulled with the confidence that Chennai’s batsmen lacked. The two openers hardly gave a chance and never seemed to be in doubt of how to pierce in the field.
Chennai no doubt missed Matthew Hayden and Michael Hussey, who scored nearly a third of Chennai runs in the tournament so far. Barring S Vidyut’s half-century, no other innings was memorable. In fact Vidyut’s innings was full of unintentional shots - one shot, in the 10th over, was a pull edged off Asif that sailed over the keeper for four - and it was only memorable because it was his debut.
Credit for Chennai’s anti-climatic total must go to Delhi’s bowlers as they bounced back impressively after the initial assault and prevented Chennai from scoring over 180. If not for Albie Morkel’s late charge, Chennai would have struggled to get a par score.
Between overs 12 and 16, Delhi conceded only 31 runs as Mohammad Asif, Glenn McGrath and Vijaykumar Yo Mahesh bowled fuller and cut out Dhoni’s attempts to step out of the crease and attack. Yo Mahesh, who had conceded two free-hits before bowling Stephen Fleming in his first over, conceded only one run in his final over. Virender Sehwag shuffled his bowlers about - giving Asif only one over in his opening spell - and with all his fast bowlers having finished their quotas, he tossed the ball to Rajat Bhatia for the final over. Bhatia, who hadn’t bowled in the innings so far, impressed as he conceded only 11.
Delhi have been lucky not to be badly hurt by the Australian and New Zealand player exodus - they have only lost Daniel Vettori - and in this second leg of the tournament they can use it to maintain their position on the top of the points table.
