Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by five wickets in the Indian Premier League match played at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium here on Friday.

Brief scores:

Delhi Daredevils: 185 for 6 in 20 overs (Virender Sehwag 74, Mithun Manhas 32 not out; Muttiah Muralitharan 2/25, Lakshmipathy Balaji 2/21).

Chennai Super Kings: 190 for 5 in 19.1 overs (Matthew Hayden 93, Suresh Raina 49 not out; Dirk Nannes 1/18).

Delhi Darevils batting report

Virender Sehwag hammered a blistering 38-ball 74 before Chennai Super Kings recovered some lost ground to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 185 for six in their Indian Premier League match at Ferozeshah Kotla here on Friday.

Sehwag’s blazing half-century was the cornerstone of Delhi’s challenging total as the Nazafgarh marauder gave a scintillating start to the home side after winning the toss.

His 74-run knock was bejewelled with 10 fours and three sixes and dominated the partnerships he shared with his teammates.

Delhi middle-order, however, crumbled after a super start before Rajat Bhatia (21) and Mithun Manhas (32 not out) played good hands down the order.

For Chennai, Muttiah Muralitharan (2/25) and Lakshmipathy Balaji (2/21) were the most successful bowlers. Muralitharan’s twin wickets in the 12th over, in fact, brought Chennai back into the match.

Earlier, Sehwag began with a bang, dispatching South African paceman Albie Morkel for two boundaries in the very first over.

Chennai’s stand-in skipper Suresh Raina shuffled four different bowlers in the first four overs but there was no stopping Sehwag.

The local hero welcomed Joginder Sharma with two boundaries and then lofted Balaji for a six in the very first ball of his spell.

In no time, Delhi raced to 35 inside four overs but Balaji cut short David Warner’s (6) first outing in IPLIII by having him caught at mid-wicket by Matthew Hayden.

The left-handed Australian came into the side in place of injured skipper Gautam Gambhir and his fall brought in Tillakaratne Dilshan on the crease.

Sehwag, Dilshan milk bowling

With Sehwag, who raised his fifty by hitting Justin Kemp for a four and a six, in full flow, Chennai bowlers literally leaked runs as there was just one over till first strategic break in which the visitors did not concede a boundary.

Sehwag and Dilshan quickly raised a 67—run partnership, off which the Sri Lankan’s contribution was 15 runs, before wily Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan got into act and dismissed both the batsmen in one over.

Runs were literally flowing from the bats of Delhi players but three wickets in eight balls brought the match on even terms.

Muralitharan first had Dilshan caught by Raina and two balls later Kemp took a stunner near the boundary to bring an end to Sehwag’s entertaining innings.

Ashwin then sent Ab de Villiers packing in the next over.

Runs still came for Delhi but the jolts slowed down the pace of scoring. Manhas and skipper Dinesh Karthik carried on the good work but Delhi struggled to keep wickets intact.

Karthik was next man to go when he was trapped by Joginder Sharma but Rajat Bhatia did well to provide late firework.

The Teams:

Delhi Dardevils: Dinesh Karthik (Capt. and wk), Virender Sehwag, Tillakaratne Dilshan, David Warner, Mithun Manhas, A.B, de Villiers, Pradeep Sangwan, Dirk Nannes, Umesh Yadav, Rajat Bhatia and Amit Mishra.

Chennai Super Kings: Suresh Raina (Capt.), Matthew Hayden, Albie Morkel, Jutsin Kemp, S. Badrinath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Joginder Sharma, Murali Vijay, Lakshmipathy Balaji, Parthiv Patel (wk) and R. Ashwin.