AB de Villers century powers Delhi to 189 for 5

"I was always confident"

Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag said he was confident of chasing down the original total against Kings XI Punjab.

According to Duckworth Lewis method Delhi Daredevils' target was revised from 105 in 12 overs to 54 of six overs and Sehwag (38) and Gautam Gambhir (15) played sensibly to score the runs in 4.5 overs to help his team beat Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets in the rain truncated match.

"I wasn't worried (about the score) because I expected them to score 120 runs and was prepared for that and with the sort of batting we have I was confident we can chase anything around 120-130," Sehwag said.

"We were chasing 100 something runs and I told Gautam to play complete 12 overs and I can go after the bowling and we can build on a partnership and that is exactly what Gautam did," he added.

Sehwag hoped to keep the momentum going and play in the finals next month.

"Yes we are hoping (to play in finals). If we can play the same kind of cricket we can play the finals," he said.

Kings XI Punjab's skipper Yuvraj Singh said they lost the momentum after initial start and felt the Duckworth Lewis put the rivals in an advantageous position.

"We had a good momentum going but after seven overs we lost a few wickets and lost the momentum and thus the game turned. "Duckworth Lewis comes handy for the team batting second. It is always advantageous to the chasing team but we can't do much about that. We are happy with the start, off course we can take some positive out of it and we have enough games coming up, so looking forward to that," he said.

Asked as when Brett Lee can be expected to play, Yuvraj said, "He (Brett Lee) is very close to playing actually. I mean, as soon as he is 100 per cent fit, he is gonna come and play for us." Meanwhile, Man of the match Daniel Vettori, who scalped three wickets for 15 runs for the Daredevils, said spinners will play a very crucial role in this IPL as they have adapted to the conditions better than anybody else.

"I didn't see (Anil) Kumble bowl but I saw (Shane) Warne bowling, the wicket looks very good and I think the spinners would play a huge role," Vettori said.

"Spinners adapted themselves really quick, more than anybody else, and they realised what their strengths are. We have played in small ground and generally the wickets are good for batting and the spinners have done a good job," he added

(Source: www.espnstar.com)