Virender Sehwag says he was determined to bat longer against Kochi Tuskers Kerala
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429 said on Saturday that he had gone in to the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Kochi Tuskers Kerala with an intention to lead from the front by batting throughout their innings.
"Absolutely happy. The wicket was not easy, I took the responsibility and once we crossed 120, I thought we had got par. We were very happy we got 158," said Sehwag after the match.
"I was hitting the ball nicely, it was obvious I had to bat longer. I told myself if I just stayed longer we could get 130, a good total on this wicket. And then just told my bowlers to bowl straight, and the wicket would do the rest," the visiting skipper
added further.
The swashbuckling Indian opener led the Daredevils from the front with a whirlwind 80-run knock which came of just 47 balls. His knock steered the hosts to a daunting total of 157 for 7 before the Morne Morkel-led bowling attack rolled over Kochi for just
119 runs, to register a 38-run victory at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ajit-Agarkar-c972 returned with two wickets apiece.
The Kochi captain, Mahela Jayawardene, lauded his counterpart for the belligerent knock and said that that Sehwag's heroics at the top of the order took the game away from the home side. He said that 130 to 140 runs would have been a competitive total, but
chasing 160 was quite tough.
Jayawardene wished they had removed Viru early. He also said that after getting on to a relatively good start, the bowlers failed to keep hold in the second half of Daredevils’ innings.
"The way we bowled in the last 10, we didn't have any control over things. We didn't bowl good areas. The first 10 we were good," said Jayawardene.
The Delhi Daredevils were earlier at the bottom of the tournament points table, but the victory against Kochi Tuskers http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kerala-c803 has moved the side up to number seven.
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