Virender Sehwag comes to the IPL party

Delhi Daredevils captain scores 87 as league leaders beat Pune Warriors by eight wickets.

Virender Sehwag led from the front for Delhi Daredevils with his knock of 87 that included three sixes and 10 boundaries.

Virender Sehwag, the Delhi Daredevils captain, smashed a fine 87 off 48 balls to lead his side to a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League clash at Pune yesterday.

In the format in which preserving wickets is at a premium, only four fell in the entire match, two in each innings and an IPL record.

That prompted Sehwag to credit his bowlers as they limited Pune to 146 for two after Sourav Ganguly's men elected to bat first at home.

In reply Delhi coasted home on the captain's brilliance with exactly four overs to spare.

The win puts Delhi two points clear at the top of the IPL table with a game in hand.

"They couldn't get past 150, which is chase-able," Sehwag said after the game.

"It is good to be top of the table, all because of my bowlers, they did a fantastic job."

Sehwag had been missing out while his fellow batsmen Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen have been contributing with runs prompting him to remark after the last game that he hoped to stay until the 16th over.

He did exactly that after Delhi lost Jayawardene (18) early in the run chase.

Pietersen partnered Sehwag in an 89-run stand to put the Daredevils well on course at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium. Pietersen departed to Rahul Sharma in the 12th over after a 27 that included two sixes, before Ross Taylor joined the chase with his nine to lead the visitors home with four overs left.

"In the last game we made a lot of mistakes, we spoke about it," said Jayawardene.

"Our bowlers bowled very well today, and the batting clicked as well. We are getting a lot of things right, but there are still areas we can improve. It's a long tournament, still halfway to go, so we can't get complacent."

Pune had struggled with the early losses of Jesse Ryder and Ganguly - with just one run on the board.

Manish Pandey (80) and Robin Uthappa ensured Pune lost no more wickets thanks to a superb partnership of 145 that lasted nearly 19 overs.

Pandey cracked seven boundaries and three sixes in his 56-ball innings, while Uthappa became Pune's highest scorer of the tournament so far with his 60 off 58 balls. But those runs were still not enough, according to Ganguly.

"We didn't get enough runs. It was a good wicket and not a big ground either, so 170-180 would be a par score," he said.

"We were under six an over for about 13 overs and then got some runs in the end."

Meanwhile, the other match between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Deccan Chargers was abandoned without a ball bowled following a torrential downpour at Eden Gardens.

With winds blowing, an advertisement board collapsed in the stadium causing some injury to a small number of spectators.

Deccan Chargers got their first point of the tournament.

Follow us