Home-grown heroes — one an established star and the other a T20 hero whose stock is on the rise — were the leading men at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium
HYDERABAD: Home-grown heroes — one an established star and the other a T20 hero whose stock is on the rise — were the leading men at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Tuesday.
Virender Sehwag entertained like only he can as Delhi’s icon led the way in his team’s successful chase of a modest target. Rohit Sharma earlier saved Chargers the blushes belting 66 off 36 balls in a team total of 142, but watched helplessly as Sehwag mercilessly crushed any resistance on his way to a 41-ball 94. The Daredevils won with seven overs to spare.
In one Farveez Maharoof over, Sharma hit 26 runs (6, 6, 4, 4, 4) off the first five deliveries. Sehwag did better. He took 30 runs off one Andrew Symonds over — the sequence of scoring shots was 4, 6, 4, 6, 4 and 6 in the 13th over. Earlier, he hit 21 off the 23 runs Sanjay Bangar conceded.
Sehwag batted like a millionaire who had no worries in exhausting all his talent in one night. Fresh from his marauding triple-century at Chennai against the South Africans, he displayed the carefree approach and clean hitting that has brought him maximum benefit. He reduced the contest to a farce with 10 boundaries and 6 sixes. Adam Gilchrist and Symonds, the marquee big-hitters, for a change were being entertained rather than being the entertainers, but one suspects they would have preferred watching their younger teammate Sharma’s innings.
The $750,000 Deccan Chargers spent to lure Sharma out of his hometown in Mumbai and travel down south wasn’t a bad investment after all.
Sharma, one of the young stars in India’s World T20 win, dug the Chargers out of a hole after the top order perished in the face of some tidy bowling, first from Mohammad Asif and then Maharoof early on.
The first ball Sharma faced from another youngster, Yo Mahesh, was sent crashing to the backward point fence. He slipped as he turned at the non-striker’s end before the ball reached the boundary. Symonds, his partner at that point, looked concerned, but Sharma dusted himself and was up for the fightback he was going to script. A misunderstanding between him and the experienced Sanjay Bangar later in the innings saw the senior partner giving up his right to reach the safe end, and wisely so.
He went past 50 and the team total crossed the three-figure mark. The scoop to fine-leg off that Maharoof over was full of finesse, while the other hits lacked no power or timing.
Sharma has in the recent past shown the tendency to perform under pressure. He did it against South Africa in the World T20 in a must-win game, when the chips were down and also made an impact during the CB Series with two valuable half-centuries.
For the Chargers though, things don’t look good and it won’t be a surprise if the franchisee owner, a newspaper baron who witnessed the game, has a word or two with skipper Laxman and the team management. That something special is yet to be seen from the VVS camp.
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