Virender Sehwag smashed a 47-ball 80 on a difficult pitch to set up Delhi Daredevils’ 38-run win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala in an Indian Premier League match on Saturday. The skipper hit five sixes and eight fours as Delhi posted 157-7 before dismissing Kochi for 119 for their third victory in eight matches of the Twenty20 tournament. Delhi pacemen did the maximum damage, with South African Morne Morkel emerging the most successful bowler with 3-18 off four overs. Seamers Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar each took two wickets. South African left-arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe completed the victory when he bagged the last three wickets in one over.
Ravindra Jadeja (31) and Australian Brad Hodge (27) were the main run-getters for Kochi, who suffered their fifth defeat in eight matches. Delhi were struggling at 35-3 after electing to bat on a slow track where the ball sometimes kept low, but opener Sehwag steadied the innings with a 56-run stand for the fourth wicket with Yogesh Nagar (22). Fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth earlier jolted Delhi with two wickets in his opening over as he bowled Australian David Warner and then trapped Naman Ojha lbw with deliveries that kept low.
Brief scores: Delhi Daredevils 157-7 in 20 overs (V. Sehwag 80; Y. Nagar 22, T. Brit 20; S. Sreesanth 2-10) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 119 in 18.5 overs (R. Jadeja 31, B. Hodge 27; M. Morkel 3-18, R. van der Merwe 3-20, Irfan Pathan 2-27, A. Agarkar 2-23) by 38 runs. Kolkata beat Punjab: Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary hit unbeaten 45 and 34 respectively as Kolkata Knight Riders inflicted a crushing eight-wicket defeat on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. The unbeaten 85-run stand between Gambhir and Tiwary enabled Kolkata to chase down the 120-run target in 17.2 overs.
The partnership came after Ryan Harris took a superb catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Kolkata opener Eoin Morgan off Bhargav Bhatt. Bhatt struck on his first delivery when he had Jacques Kallis caught by David Hussey in the covers as Kolkata got off to a bad start in pursuit of 120 runs. Earlier, Iqbal Abdulla took 2 wickets as Kolkata restricted Kings XI Punjab to 119/6 despite a well-made 42 from Dinesh Karthik.
BRIEF SCORES: Kolkata Knight Riders 120 for 2 (Gambhir 45*, Tiwary 34*) beat Kings XI Punjab 119 for 6 v (Karthik 42, Abdulla 2-19) by eight wickets.
Delhi win as Sehwag masters tricky track
