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Journalism of Courage
It8217;s a bowler8217;s nightmare to bowl to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at their best 8211; together, they are as lethal as they come. While either can hit with utter disdain, Gambhir preferred the ground shots on Monday and Sehwag was never afraid to carve the aerial route. And on Monday, the Bangalore Royal Challengers slumped to another defeat, this time a five-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils.
Chasing 155, the duo produced fireworks. The southpaw was the first to take the attack to the opposition camp from the first ball itself when he flicked Dale Steyn to the square leg fence. Then again in the third over, the bowler was smashed off consecutive balls past the fence. Delhi dasher Sehwag also unleashed his flurry of shots, hitting Zaheer Khan for three fours in an over.
His departure didn8217;t make much of a difference as, by then, Delhi were 90 for 1 in 7 overs. His 19-ball knock of 47 was so fluid that it was punctuated by only three dots.
Two overs later, Gambhir also joined Sehwag. The unyielding yet attacking Gambhir got out in the only way that looked possible: a run-out. He set off for a risky second and paid the price. He completed 500 runs in the IPL. Already a proprietor of the Orange Cap, it will take some doing for others to seize the cap from the batsman, who is miles ahead.
For the Royal Challengers, it was Anil Kumble who took two wickets and Dale Steyn, who bagged the wicket of AB de Villiers, who infused some life into the match. But there was no way they could stop the visitors from achieving the set target.
Earlier, under-19 World Cup player Sreevats Goswami was drafted into the Challengers side in place of his under-19 skipper Virat Kohli. And the move seemed to have paid off as Goswami 52 played some eye-catching shots, and scored the only fifty of the match. He was fluent during his 42-ball knock, hitting seven boundaries and one six. With him at the crease, the Challengers were crusing nicely at more than seven runs an over, which dipped after his exit.
It took some rash hitting from Misbah-ul-Haq in the last over of the innings bowled by Rajat Bhatia which accounted for 24 runs to take the hosts to 154 for 7. The Pakistani, who was yet to come good in the tournament, proved his ability with some lusty hits towards the end. He remained unbeaten on a 25-ball 47 which saw him finding the fence only twice, but hitting four sixes. His efforts in the end didn8217;t count for much as the Challengers were handed their ninth defeat in 11 games. With the five-wicket win, the Daredevils remain in contention for a semi-final berth.
