Chennai, May 2
Delhi Daredevils defeated Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets handing the latter their first defeat in the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) at a full M A Chidambaram Stadium here today.

The Delhi Daredevils, who had one defeat and three wins in the league, blasted the Super Kings’ bowling with ease as captain Virender Sehwag (71, 41 balls, seven fours, four sixes), opening with left hander Gautam Gambhir (50, 37 balls, five fours, one six ) gave the team a flying start. Sehwag was declared Man of the Match.

The two put on 115 runs for the first wicket off 70 balls to ensure an easy win for their team. The Devils scored 172 losing only 2 wickets and one over to spare.

Earlier, the Superkings, handicapped by the absence of their hero hitherto in the league — Aussies Mathew Hayden and Mike Hussey and Kiwi Jacob Oram — could only score a modest 169 losing six wickets in the 20 stipulated overs with captain Dhoni scoring 32, left-hander Vidyut top scoring with 54 and Albie Morkel 28.

The Devils needing a win to draw level with the Super Kings on the points table at the top began in great style.

Sehwag returned to Chepauk with the memories of his record fastest triple century knock in the Test match against South Africa in late March, striking two sixes.

Ntini yielded eight runs in the first over and Ghoni 17 in the second over.

Gambhir along with Sehwag, who already has the best strike rate in the league for the Daredevils, posted the 50-run mark for the opening stand in just 4.5 overs.

The Daredevils raced to 83 for no loss off the first seven overs. Sehwag raced to his 50 off 24 balls with two fours and two sixes.

The visitors needed 68 runs to win from 63 balls at 102 for no loss and even Muralitharan's off spin did not trouble them. The highest wicket taker in Test matches, the Lankan offie has not been bowling his feared 'doosra' in the league much.

Earlier, Sivaramakrishnan Vidyut celebrated his first match of the Indian Premier League with a quick-fire 54 off 37 balls to steer Chennai Super Kings to a competitive 169 for six.

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. 

Scoreboard

Chennai Super Kings

P Patel c Mahesh b Sehwag 21

Fleming b Mahesh 13

S Vidyut c Mahesh b McGrath 54

Dhoni c Shoaib Malik b Asif 32

JA Morkel c Sehwag b Bhatia 28

Raina run out (Sangwan) 3

Badrinath not out 11

Joginder Sharma not out 0

Extras (w-5, nb-2) 7

Total: (6 wkts, 20 overs) 169

FoW: 1-23, 2-65, 3-122, 4-137, 5-145, 6-163

Bowling: McGrath 4-0-21-1, Asif 4-0-34-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-31-1, P. Sangwan 4-0-40-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-11-0, Sehwag 2-0-21-1, Bhatia 1-0-11-1.

Delhi Daredevils

Gambhir b Gony 50

Sehwag c Muralitharan b Joginder 71

de Villiers not out 26

S Dhawan not out 19

Extras: (b-1, lb-1, w-2, nb-2) 6

Total: (2 wkts, 19 overs) 172

FoW: 1-115, 2-139

Bowling: Ntini 4-0-29-0, Gony 4-0-39-1, Morkel 4-0-40-0, Joginder Sharma 3-0-35-1, Muralitharan 4-0-27-0.— Agencies

Knight Riders hope to see light
Gopal Sharma
Tribune News Service

Mohali, May 2
Last three games, three wins. Last three games, three losses. These are the immediate past results of Kings XI Punjab and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively, who get ready to clash in the DLF IPL match at the Punjab Cricket Associatiuon Stadium here tomorrow. After a sluggish start which saw them lose the first two games, Punjab have been on the roll and notched up three wins on a trot. 

Reverse is true for the Shah Rukh Khan franchise team led by Sourav Ganguly as the team, after a promising start to the tournament, have got stuck in reverse gear.

Their display in their last match yesterday was particularly pathetic when they were thrashed badly by in-form Rajasthan Royals. The batting failure has been the bane of the Knight Riders, who were given a headstart into the tournament by a hurricane 158 not out by New Zealand wicketkeeper batsman Brendon McCullum.

With McCullum and Ricky Ponting having left for their countries, an unfit Chris Gayle having been ruled out for tournament, Brad Hodge, Salman Butt as well as the local talent have failed to seize the initiative.

Ricky Ponting, the Aussie skipper, had an forgettable outing in the tournament as he accumulated 39 runs in four matches. This included a pair of ducks.

The 45-run drubbing Knight Riders received in the previous match at Jaipur must be galling to skipper Sourav Ganguly, who, overcame a lean patch to score of a fighting 51. David Hussey kept his company with fighting 42, but the efforts were not good enough as the team suffered their third successive defeat.

Knight Riders will have to come up with an improved display if they intend to give a good fight to Kings XI Punjab. For that to happen besides an improved show by the batsmen, Ganguly will be depending on his pacers to come good on a track which has the reputation of helping them.

If he gets into his rhythm, Ishant Sharma could be handy on this track. Given the history of the Mohali track, along with Ishant, Umar Gul or Ajit Agarkar could also be a handful if they strike the right line and length.

Gul had an impressive haul in the previous match while Agarkar and Dinda have been among wickets in the earlier matches.

Kings XI have so far not felt the absence of pace spearhead Brett Lee, who left the squad before the last game against Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad.

VRV Singh, in the playing eleven after a long lay-off due to injury, made a successful return to the squad with a three-wicket haul in the home game against Delhi. The local lanky speedster will hold the key along with in-form Irfan Pathan and S. Sreesanth, who is yet to make much of an impact in the tournament.

The hosts will, however, be pinning hopes on young leg-spinner Piyush Chawla to bowl with the same guile and control which he displayed against Mumbai in which he claimed two crucial scalps giving away virtually nothing.

In yesterday’s match against Chargers, Chawla with the figures of 4-0-28-3 and was the most successful bowler from the side.

The tournament has yet to see the best of Yuvraj Singh. Though he has a couple of good knocks under his belt, the local player and skipper has failed to entertain the crowd the way he does when in full flow. Ganguly will be pinning on his formidable bowling attack to keep the willow of Yuvraj silent if his team intend to reverse the losing trend.

An entertaining contest looks on the cards on the Mohali track, which also aids good strokeplay, when the two teams begin contest on the morrow.

Bangalore, May 2
Bangalore Royal Challengers skipper Rahul Dravid said the team must win tomorrow against Deccan Chargers to get the confidence going and bounce back in the DLF IPL tournament.

Dravid admitted that his side needs to click as a team. "Way to motivate is to challenge them (the team-mates)", he told a news conference after practice at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

"We have got backs to the wall. It's great if we fight back from here", he said.

Dravid said he still maintained that his team has got the quality and the "batting right up to seven".

"We have five international bowlers in our side. So, we have got the talent and good combination". The team hasn't clicked, he said.

“The last couple of games have been very close. The team needs one win to get the confidence,” he said and hoped it would come tomorrow.

He said the team can't afford to give 18-20 runs a over. At the same time, the team needs one or two such overs when it bats to "crack the game", he said.

Dravid said Anil Kumble will play the game tomorrow, replacing Sunil Joshi. — PTI

New Delhi, May 2
Only eight players from the team, who are presently playing in the four-nation tournament in Australia, figure in the 18-member squad picked by the five-member selection committee, appointed by the Indian Olympic Association, for the 17th Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia, from May 8 to 18.

The most notable inclusion in the team is drag-flicker Sandeep Singh, who was neither picked for the World Cup nor for the Australian tournament.

More importantly, present chief coach Joaquim Carvalho has been retained in the squad as "observer", while A.K. Bansal has been named as the chief coach. Former Australian Olympian Ric Charlesworth has been designated as the "adviser" of the team.

The five-member selection panel, headed by Aslam Sher Khan, and including Ajit Pal Singh, Zafar Iqbal, Ashok Kumar and Dhanraj Pillay, who met at the Olympic Bhawan here today, stuck to their promise of picking a balanced team, with some of the players from the team now in Australia as the "nucleus" of the squad.

The team: goalkeepers: Baljeet Singh and Sreejesh P.R; defenders: Diwakar Ram, Sandeep Singh, Innocent Kullu and Sameer Baxla; mid-fielders: Sarvanjit Singh, Ranjeet Singh, Bikram Kanth, Sardara Singh, Cheeyana A.B and Vivek; forwards: S.V.Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Tushar Khandekar, Shivender Singh, Mandeep Antil and Gurbaj Singh.

The lucky eight, now in Australia, and who have held the confidence of the five-member new selection committee, are: Baljeet Singh, Sameer Baxla, Bikram Kanth, Sardara Singh, S.V.Sunil, Gurvinder Singh Chandi, Tushar Khandekar and Shivender Singh. Tushar is leading the team in Australia, though for the Azlan Shah, no captain has been named.