Chennai, May 2: Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag with a smashing 41-ball 71 cruised his team to hand Chennai Super Kings an eight wicket defeat and an end to the home team's unbeaten record in the IPL, here tonight.
With the other opener Gautam Gambhir contributing an entertaining 37-ball 50, the Daredevils eased to 172 for 2 with one over to spare after their opponents, who tasted their first defeat of the tournament, were restricted to 169 for six in their innings.
Sehwag and Gambhir shared a 115-run stand for the first wicket off 70 balls to take away the match from Super Kings and AB de Villiers (26 not out; 21 balls, 2x4) and Shikhar Dhawan (19 not out; 17 balls, 2x4) had nothing much to do.
Sehwag, who scored a Test triple century here against South Africa recently, enthralled the Chinnaswamy crowd with seven fours and four sixes and was adjudged man of the match.
When Sehwag was caught by Muttiah Muralitharan off Joginder Sharma in the 12th over, Daredevils were cruising along and when Gambhir too made his exit bowled by Manpreet Gony for 50 after hitting five fours and a six, the visitors needed less than six an over with eight wickets in hand.
Dhawan ended Daredevils' innings in style by hitting the winning runs a four to post their fourth win from five matches and bump Chennai Super Kings off the top of points table on net run rate though the two sides have equal eight points.
Gambhir was later handed over the orange cap for becoming the highest run getter of the tournament with 224 runs to his credit.
Earlier, Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut celebrated his first match of the IPL with 54 off 37 balls to steer Chennai Super Kings to a competitive 169 for six after his skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.
Vidyut, who hit seven fours and one six in his 54, proved a perfect replacement for Australian Michael Hussey and his third wicket partnership of 57 runs with his skipper MS Dhoni was the highlight of the match.
With experienced Glen McGrath bowling a tidy line and length, the hosts began at a sedate pace with openers Parthiv Patel and Stephen Fleming not being able to play big shots.
But once Stephen Fleming was out cheaply for 13, clean-bowled by Yo Mahesh, Vidyut and Patel did not allow the Delhi bowlers to dominate and the duo shared a 43-run second wicket stand and raised their team's 50 in the seventh over.
After Patel was holed out to a good catch by Yo Mahesh at short third man off Sehwag after making 21 (20 balls; 3 fours), Dhoni, though not at his explosive best, maintained the brisk pace of scoring in company of Vidyut.
When Dhoni came in at the fall of Patel, Vidyut was batting on 25 but runs came in at a faster pace and the duo scored 50 runs in just 31 balls, sharing the spoils equally.
Vidyut reached his 50 off 31 balls but made his exit with the addition of another four runs as he came out to drive McGrath only to top-edge to Yo Mahesh at the cover area.
Soon, Dhoni, who was dropped by De Villiers at covers, walked back to the pavilion being caught at long off by Shoaib Malik off Mohd. Asif and Suresh Raina was ran out by Pradeep Sangwan before Albie Morkel did some fireworks scoring 28 off 16 balls to take the Chennai score to 169.
For the visitors, five bowlers -- McGrath, Sehwag, Asif, Yo Mahesh and Bhatia took one wicket each.
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