Gambhir takes Daredevils home (scores a half-century in 6 wickets win over Superkings)

Chennai, Apr 15: Gautam Gambhir did not do what Sachin did a few games before, going out of the ground when he was completely dehydrated. He waited and played a composed innings to take his side home with the experienced Mithun Manhas in their game against Chennai Superkings here tonight.
The visiting side got some jitters earlier in their innings when three of their top three batters – David Warner, Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan – got out cheaply inside the first two overs. But the half century by the skipper and a matured innings by Manhas (25 off 32 balls) proved enough to cross the target of 113 put by the Superkings with six wickets remaining.
For the home side, Doug Bollinger bowled superbly to take two wickets while R Ashwin and Shadab Jakati contributed with a wicket each.
Earlier, the turning track of MA Chidambaram stadium could not support the home side, whose batting surrendered completely to the disciplined Delhi Daredevils’ bowling attack.
For the visiting side, Ashish Nehra provided the two important breakthroughs early in the innings while the spin bowling of Sehwag proved too much for the home side to take in the middle of their innings. He also contributed with two wickets.
None of Chennai batsmen, except S Badrinath (30 off 29 balls) could cross the 20-run mark, after their skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first.
In reply, Delhi lost their three top order batsmen under the first two overs. Ashwin, who has been bowling sensationally with the new ball, did it again for the Superkings. Warner was undone by Ashwin’s rising delivery, which was caught brilliantly by Murali Vijay at covers.
Bollinger, with his two wickets in the second over, gave the home side more than a chance to come back in the game. He first got rid of the dangerous Sehwag (4 off 4 balls), who was caught marvelously at slip by Mathew Hayden, and then the ball took slight edge of Dilshan’s (1 off 2 balls) bat on its way to hitting the stumps.
Dinesh Karthik (13 off 16 balls) could not have played a more irresponsible shot in the whole tournament that he played tonight off Jakati. He tried to play a pull shot on the rising ball that came quite quickly to his liking, and was superbly holed out at mid wicket by Badrinath.
Manhas provided the much-needed support to Gambhir, who stood at one end while the wickets were tumbling at the other.