Vettori stars in Delhi's rain-affected win
April 18, 2009

Delhi Daredevils 54 for 0 (Sehwag 38*) beat Kings XI Punjab 104 for 7 (Goel 38, Vettori 3-15) by ten wickets

Frequent showers ruined the first match of Sunday's double-header in Cape Town, reducing the target required by Delhi Daredevils to only 54 in six overs, a goal they reached with all wickets intact. The victory, however, was set up by Daniel Vettori's remarkable spell which brought an abrupt halt to Kings XI Punjab's burgeoning momentum and gave Delhi a manageable target to chase.


The game was first reduced to 14 overs a side, and then to 12, and the boundaries were shortened to exclude wet parts of the outfield. The pre-match conditions - overcast skies and a green-tinged pitch - indicated that the fast bowlers would find assistance at Newlands and Delhi packed their side with four seamers. However, their inexperienced new-ball attack - Delhi left out Glenn McGrath - struggled to contain the Kings XI Punjab openers, Karan Goel and Ravi Bopara, who raced to 67 in the first six overs.


Sehwag used his fast bowlers in one-over spells before the tactical time-out but turned to Vettori, the No. 1 spinner in Twenty20 internationals, soon after to stem the run-flow. Vettori had immediate success, trapping Bopara lbw with a straighter one, and bowled flat and straight, conceding only one run off his first over. Victoria fast bowler Dirk Nannes bowled another economical over to two new batsmen - Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh - before holding a well-judged catch at short fine-leg off Sangakkara's top-edged sweep to give Vettori his second wicket.

With only three overs to go, Yuvraj found his timing, clouting Nannes and Vettori for sixes over wide long-on and midwicket. Just when Yuvraj seemed to be making a push towards a 120-plus score, Mahela Jayawardene called for an ill-advised run and Vettori broke the stumps with Yuvraj well short at the bowler's end. Punjab then lost two more wickets within the space of three balls - Jayawardene was caught at long-off off Vettori and Piyush Chawla was run out without facing a ball. Vettori finished with 3 for 15 and was instrumental in pulling Punjab back to 104 for 7.

Gautam Gambhir gave Delhi an ideal start by driving Irfan Pathan over cover and flicking through midwicket for boundaries. Thereafter, however, it was all Sehwag. He flicked his first ball, from Yusuf Abdulla, over fine leg for six and lofted his second to the long-on boundary. The drizzle that had been around from the half-way point of Punjab's innings grew stronger and forced the players off with Delhi on 24 for 0 after 1.5 overs. When play resumed, Delhi needed only 31 more off 25 balls. Sehwag drove the first ball after the resumption firmly to the long-off boundary and effectively ended any slim hopes of a Punjab victory.