Sizzling Viru helps Delhi blow Rajasthan away

Biswajit Jha/Zeecric Bureau

Ahmedabad: Virender Sehwag played yet another blistering knock to give Delhi Daredevils their second win in as many matches when they defeated Rajasthan Royals by 6 wickets here on Monday. Sehwag, despite losing his captain and opening partner Gautam Gambhir (9) and Sri-Lankan dynamo Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) early, played his natural game, which knows no defense but only offence. Sehwag made mockery of Royals bowlers as he plundered boundaries at will and took Daredevils close to victory with his superb knock of 75. Such was his dominance that he took just 34 balls for his 75 which consisted of 8 fours and 5 huge sixes. Though Daredevils suffered some hiccups at the end after Sehwag’s departure losing de Villiers for 15, multi-talented Dinesh Karthik (unbeaten 23) stood there as the Rock of Gibraltar to see his team home. Earlier, put into bat, Rajasthan Royals posted 141 for six against Delhi Daredevils in their second Indian Premier League match here today. Abhishek Jhunjhunwala played an unbeaten innings of 53 while Paras Dogra made 29. For Delhi Daredevils, Pradeep Sangwan was the most successful bowler as he came up with a figure of 1/20 in his four overs. Rajasthan Royals’ batting woes continued as they lost three crucial wickets inside the powerplay overs. Swapnil Asnodkar (5) was first to go. He was followed by Naman Ojha who played a brisk knock of 24 off just 14 balls. His cameo consisted of four fours and a six. But the biggest disappointment for Rajasthan Royals came when they lost their main man Yousuf Pathan, the only centurion of this year’s IPL. Yousuf was caught at boundary while trying to hit over the top before he opened his account. Graeme Smith also failed to fire as he departed for 18 after Yousuf’s dismissal. Delhi Daredevils captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and elected to field first against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL league match here on Monday.Delhi won their first match against Kings XI Punjab while Rajasthan Royals lost narrowly to Mumbai Indians despite Yousuf Pathan’s heroic innings. The Daredevils replaced pacer V Yo Mahesh with leggie Sarabjit Ladda while the Royals substituted Kamran Khan with Munaf Patel.Teams Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir(c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mithun Manhas, Farveez Maharoof, Pradeep Sangwan, Amit Mishra, Sarabjit Ladda, Dirk Nannes Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Graeme Smith, Swapnil Asnodkar, Naman Ojha(w), Abhishek Jhunjunwala, Yusuf Pathan, Paras Dogra, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Amit Uniyal, Shane Warne(c), Munaf Patel, Shaun Tait