Sehwag flops again as Chargers humble Daredevils

Harmeet Singh and Daniel Christian claimed two wickets apiece as Deccan Chargers outplayed struggling Delhi Daredevils by 16 runs in their Indian Premier League match at Feroz Shah Kotla last night.

The impressive Harmeet and Christian made early inroads into the fragile Delhi Daredevils batting - mostly dependent on skipper Virender Sehwag and David Warner to bring up Deccan's second victory in five matches.

Harmeet, who took two important wickets for 27 runs, snared the dangerous Sehwag and Finch early, to ensure the Daredevils were never in the hunt to chase down the target of 169 and Delhi eventually managed 152/7 in 20 overs.

The Daredevils got off to a disastrous start losing Sehwag (12), Naman Ojha (2) and Finch (0) with only 38 runs on the board. Warner (51) and Venugopal Rao (21) tried to resurrect the innings with some responsible shots but the mounting required run-rate did them in.

Warner and Rao added 52-runs for the fourth wicket to keep Daredevils in the chase but the middle-order batsman from Andhra Pradesh fell to Amit Mishra trying to up the ante.

The left-handed Australian couldn't make the most of his dropped catch on 48 by Bharat Chipli and soon followed Rao - with Delhi still 70 runs short. Warner played a rather unusual knock today scoring 51 runs in 48 balls as the home team kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Earlier, opener Sunny Sohal (62) scored his maiden IPL half-century and skipper Kumar Sangakkara made 49 to help Deccan Chargers post a challenging 168/4 on a slow pitch, electing to bat first. After losing opener Shikhar Dhawan for zero, Sohal and Sangakkara steadied the ship with a 92-run partnership for the second wicket.