Captain Virender Sehwag produced an unbeaten knock of 87 as Delhi Daredevils scored a comfortable eight-wicket victory over Pune Warriors India to remain on top of the Indian Premier League on Tuesday.
The hard-hitting opener stroked three sixes and 10 fours off 48 balls, as Delhi scored 148-2 in only 16 overs after restricting Pune to 146-2 at Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium.
Delhi thus avenged their 20-run loss to the same side earlier this week and now have 10 points after five wins from seven games. Pune have four wins from eight games.
The other game scheduled for Tuesday — between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata — was abandoned because of rain without a ball being bowled.
The washout gave both teams a point each. Kolkata are now second behind Delhi at nine points with four wins and a no-result from eight games.
Deccan got their first point in six games as they had lost all their first five games.
At Pune, Delhi lost opener Mahela Jayawardene cheaply as he was run out following a mix-up with Sehwag, but the Delhi skipper made up with an 87-run stand for the second wicket with Kevin Pietersen (27) to put Delhi on course to victory.
Sehwag completed the win in style as he smashed legspinner Rahul Sharma for a four and six off consecutive deliveries.
For Pune, Manish Pandey top-scored with 80 not out, while Robin Uthappa chipped in with an unbeaten 60.
Pune failed to find the momentum after the early dismissals of left-handed openers Jesse Ryder and captain Sourav Ganguly before being steadied by Pandey and Uthappa.
Pandey and Uthappa were slow to begin with and the scoreboard read an unimpressive 50-2 at the end of 10 overs.
However, Pandey, who was the first Indian to score a century in the IPL during the inaugural edition in 2008, opened up with some fine shots down the ground and finished with three sixes and seven fours off 56 balls. Uthappa also batted well for six boundaries off 58 balls.
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