Sehwag finds form, powers Delhi to first win of season

Virender Sehwag's unbeaten 95 from 57 balls powered Delhi to their first win of the season as they thrashed a star-studded Mumbai team by nine wickets on Sunday.

Mumbai, who chose to bat first, scored at a brisk rate to post 161, with Rohit Sharma top-scoring with 73, and Sachin Tendulkar scoring 54.

In reply, Delhi's new opening-combination of Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene got them off to a flier. Sehwag, who had been dropped by Jasprit Bumrah, for two, made the most of the opportunity, carting him for a four and a six in the fourth over.

He was just as aggressive against an experienced Munaf Patel, at the other end, and smashed him for two-consecutive fours in the fifth.

Mumbai turned to their trump-card, Lasith Malinga, to break the stand. But even he failed to stem the run-rate as Sehwag, then batting on 30 from 19 balls, smashed him for two fours.

The opening stand, which put on 151, was finally broken when Malinga trapped Jayawardene for 59, but it was too late. Sehwag, added the finishing touches and, took his side home by announcing his return to form. In all he hit, 13 fours and two sixes, in his innings.

"When I bat well, I try to control the game," Sehwag said. "We had a good start (today) with Mahela and it worked well."

He also spoke about the positive effect of Vivian Richards' presence in the dug-out. "Viv Richards talked about bluffing," he said, "You must know how to bluff. Everyone is scared. Even if a batsman is scared inside he should show that he is confident."

Jayawardene said batting with Sehwag in good form was a treat to watch. "It was good to watch from the non-strikers end. We wanted to try and control what we could and not think about anything else and that's what we did."

David Miller's unbeaten 80 from 41 balls helped Punjab beat Pune by seven wickets in a match that went down to the wire on Sunday.

Pune, who batted first, played impressive cricket with inform openers Robin Uthappa and Aaron Finch flaying Punjab's bowlers to all parts. The opening-duo added 83 before Uthappa fell.

Finch and Yuvraj Singh continued the onslaught and powered their side to a hundred inside 13 overs. Luke Wright's brisk 34, from ten balls, helped his side post 185 in their innings.

Punjab were off to a shaky start and lost two wickets for just five runs, with Adam Gilchrist and Azhar Mahmood falling. Mandeep Singh and Manan Vohra put on a 53-run stand for the third wicket before the latter was dismissed.

But Miller and Mandeep wrestled the advantage in their favour. The turnaround began when Miller hit Yuvraj over long-on, in the 10th over. He then hit Yuvraj's replacement, Ajantha Mendis, for six and four in the 12th.

But Ashok Dinda and Bhuvneshwar Kumar put the brakes on the scoring with some accurate bowling in the 17th and 18th over. Miller changed gears, and in the 19th over smashed Dinda's first two balls for four. He, then, cleared the 15-run deficit in the last over with two huge sixes off Wright.

"I wasn't striking them nicely for a third of the innings," Miller said. "A few came off but I didn't think it would be my day till I hit the last shot. Mandy (Mandeep) did an incredible job and we gave ourselves a good chance to win, or lose, off the last ball."