New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils put up a thorough professional performance as they thrashed defending champions Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets in a lopsided contest in the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.
After the Delhi bowlers kept Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Co under wraps restricting them to a modest 110 for eight, the home batsmen made short work of the target knocking off the runs in only 13.2 overs to register their second win of the tournament.
Virender Sehwag was in blazing form as he set the tone with a typically aggressive 21-ball 33 that was laced with six and four boundaries.
The six was a typical Sehwag shot as he lofted Albie Morkel over extra cover. Naman Ojha had hit three boundaries in the first over as Daredevils never looked back.
Kevin Pietersen took over from where Sehwag left as he smashed an unbeaten 43 off 26 balls (3×4, 2×6) adding 61 runs with Mahela Jayawardene (20 no) to finish off the proceedings with 40 balls remaining.
Earlier, a disciplined bowling effort backed by some woeful running between wickets by opposition batsmen helped the Daredevils restrict defending champions to a modest total.
With as many as four CSK batsmen being victims of horrible misunderstandings, Virender Sehwag’s bowlers also responded well by keeping the batsmen under tight leash.
While Morne Morkel returned with best figures of 2/19 from fours overs, it was spin twins Roloef van der Merwe (4-0-15-0) and young Shahbaz Nadeem (3-0-9-0) who gave away only 24 runs in their seven overs to set the match up for home team.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir hit a strokeful half century while Lakshmipathy Balaji returned with a four-wicket haul as Kolkata Knight Riders brought their campaign back on track with a 42-run victory over Bangalore Royals Challengers.
Sent into bat, the Knight riders posted a challenging 165 for eight in their stipulated 20 overs, thanks to some brilliant batting by skipper Gautam Gambhir, who struck a strokeful 64 in just 39 balls.
Balaji then scalped four wickets giving away just 18 runs and Jacques Kallis accounted for two more as the visitors returned to restrict the Challengers to 123 for nine at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
With this victory, Kolkata snapped their two-match losing streak in the fifth IPL, where they had lost to Delhi Daredevils and Rajasthan Royals in their last two encounters respectively.
The Royals Challengers had a disastrous start to their run chase, losing four of their top batsman for just 25 runs with pacers Kallis and Balaji claiming two wickets each.
Kallis started the proceeding in the second over, sending back opener Cheteshwar Pujara (6) who was caught at slip while trying to steer the ball towards third man.
The South African all-rounder then scalped the prized wicket of Chris Gayle (2) in his next over. Trying to pull a short delivery from Kallis over midwicket, Gayle ended up top-edging the ball to Laxmi Shukla at mid-on.
Balaji then got ino the act and dismissed Virat Kohli (6) in the sixth over to leave the hosts tottering at 20 for three. Kohli miscued a short and ended up giving a catch to Manoj Tiwari at point.
Nine balls later, the Tamil Nadu pacer cleaned up AB de Villiers (10) and then dismissed Mayank Agarwal (5) in his next over as RCB were looked down the barrel at 33 for five.
Skipper Daniel Vettori (20) then joined Sourabh Tiwary (18) but the New Zealander also couldn’t stay longer and was sent packing by Balaji in the 12th over.
Balaji disturbed Vettori’s off-stump with a slow length delivery to claim his fourth victim.
Ryan ten Doeschate of The Netherland then claimed the wicket of Sourabh in the 15th over.
R Vinay Kumar (25 not out), HV Patel (10) and Zaheer Khan (not out 11) then tried their bit but it was too little in the end. (PTI)