Delhi back to losing ways

Once the opening partnership ended at 28 during the chase,the rest of the order failed to make even the slightest impact.

While David Warner made a half-century,it was an unusually non free flowing innings from the Australian. He took 48 balls to get more than just his eye in,but couldnt finish the game for his team,finishing on a lacklustre 51 in the 15th over.

On the other side of the pitch,Virender Sehwags early departure after he hit three successive fours off Daniel Christian in the second over of the innings could at some level explain Warners watchfulness,but the fact that the Aussie never really took charge of the chase even in the later part led to yet another Delhi loss in IPL IV.

After Sehwag fell,caught at point by Christian off the bowling of Harmeet Singh,Naman Ojha was promoted up the order,but his show lasted just four balls,trapped in front of the stumps by the irrepressible Christian.

Aaron Finch,who played a vital cameo in the last game against Pune Warriors,was also promoted up the order,but he too couldnt repeat his performance,let alone drive home the advantage for his struggling side.

It all boiled down to in-form player Venugopal Rao,who tried his best to rebuild the innings and salvage some stake in the game,but the Andhra batsman departed in search of big runs.

The only constant amongst these variables was the asking rate,which climbed exponentially. Yogesh Nagar,coming in for this match,hit a quick-fire 23,but it was too little too late for the exiting home supporters,as Delhi ended up at 152 for 7,humiliated once again in this edition of the IPL.

The move to drop Ishant Sharma from the Deccan Chargerss side worked like a charm.

As the pace was taken off the ball something that Warner and Sehwag would have otherwise used to their advantage the Delhi batsmen struggled to get the ball off the square against Harmeets medium pace,while the spinners,Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha,bowled a strangulating line. Something Delhis spinners couldnt do in the first innings.

Batteries recharged

Delhis Shahbaz Nadeem and Nagar orthodox and offie respectively werent allowed to settle down by Kumar Sangakkara and Sunny Sohal,a second wicket stand that cost Delhi 92 runs. Nadeem and Nagar were used for just four overs between them after being hit for a combined 37 runs.

Sangakkara and Sohal didnt allow the early loss of Shikhar Dhawan to slow down proceedings. While Sangakkara played with a straight bat and was forceful in his shot making,Sohals innings was all angles and deft touches.

Disappointing in the first three seasons for Kings XI Punjab and the first two games for Deccan Chargers,Sohal reposed the faith placed in him by Sangakkara. While he has a reputation of being bold and arrogant against the quick bowlers in the domestic circuit,Sohal proved he could do the same on the international stage,smashing one of the most potent bowlers in the world Morne Morkel for a straight six,followed with a boundary on the off-side.

However,the dismissal of a well-set Sangakkara and then Sohal saw Chargers lose momentum towards the end.

Chargers scored just 78 runs in the last 10 overs as against the 90 in the first ten,but against Delhi in woeful form,it was always going to be enough. With no Plan B during the chase,Warner was left to fight a losing battle all by himself.