Explosive Virender Sehwag guides Delhi Daredevils to big win | IPL 2013

It was a comprehensive win for the Delhi Daredevils in front of a very noisy crowd at the Feroz Shah

Kotla stadium in New Delhi. The team came hard at Mumbai Indians and beat them by nine wickets. Virender Sehwag and Mahela Jayawardene got off to a blitz start to set the tone of the run-chase. It was a fine blend of Sehwag's brutal hitting and Mahela's elegant strokeplay as runs came thick and fast for the home side. Mumbai Indians' bowlers were all over the place and bowled a lot of lose balls. Skipper Ricky Ponting kept shuffling his bowlers, but boundaries continued to flow off the duo's blade. After a lean patch and back spasm, Sehwag roared back to form with a belligerent 57-ball 95. The right-hander was at his attacking best and tore the bowling apart with thirteen fours and two sixes. May it be Viv Richards effect or Sehwag's knock, the team exhibited a brilliant performance. One wouldn't have thought this fixture to be a one-sided affair after brilliant knocks by Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma helped Mumbai post 161/4 after the early hiccup. The tourists split the combination of Tendulkar and Ponting, and opened with the dangerous Dwayne Smith. It didn't turn out to be a good decision as the team not only started cautiously, but lost Smith early. Ponting didn't come out next. Dinesh Karthik walked out to the middle but couldn't continue with his brilliant run in the IPL 2013 so far. Delhi were looking good as they didn't concede too many runs in the first six overs. Rohit Sharma, the next man in, stitched a brilliant partnership with Tendulkar to propel the innings. The 96-run stand commenced on a watchful note but picked momentum later on. The duo also brought up their respective half-centuries in the process. Tendulkar fell shortly after his fifty, but Sharma accelerated towards the end and hit some big sixes. Delhi dominated proceedings early on, but released steam in the middle half of the innings. The win will do wonders to Delhi's confidence and inject a fresh lease of life in their struggling IPL 2013 campaign.