Kochi plea squashed in Bombay court

Kochi's owners are trying to keep their team in the IPL© AFP

The Bombay High Court has squashed a plea from the owners of Kochi Tuskers Kerala challenging the BCCI's decision to terminate their franchise from the IPL, ANIhas reported.

Mukesh Patel, Kochi's chairman, confirmed on September 21 morning that they had made a plea. "Yes, we have moved the court and there is a hearing in the afternoon," he told PTI. At that hearing, the plea was rejected.

The BCCI had axed Kochi from the IPL for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan said, after the annual general meeting in Mumbai on September 19. The trigger for the decision was the franchise's inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. It is understood that the deadline for Kochi to submit the bank guarantee was March 26, 2011. Therefore the BCCI felt it had every right to terminate the contract once the franchise had failed to produce it.

Patel, however, had denied that the franchise owed the board any money. "The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie," he had said. "We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue."

The franchise's dispute centres on the BCCI's decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. "The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees."

Srinivasan, however, had said that the decision to remove Kochi from the league was final and he called their alleged transgression an "irremediable breach" © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Kochi franchise terminated by BCCI

	Kochi Tuskers Kerala will not be part of future IPLs © AFP

The Kochi Tuskers Kerala IPL franchise has been terminated by the BCCI for breaching its terms of agreement, the new board president N Srinivasan has said after the annual general meeting in Mumbai.

"Because of the irremediable breach committed by the Kochi franchise, the BCCI has decided to encash the bank guarantee [for 2010] in its possession and also terminate the franchise," Srinivasan said. When asked if Kochi had any chance of returning, Srinivasan responded: "No, we have terminated the franchise because the breach is not capable of being remedied."

The trigger for the decision was the franchise's inability to furnish a new bank guarantee for 2011. Under the terms of the franchise agreement, each franchise has to submit a bank guarantee every year that covers the fee payable to the BCCI. "We waited for six months for the fresh bank guarantee to come," a top BCCI official told ESPNcricinfo. "They kept saying they will, they will, they will. That had no meaning."

According to the official Shashank Manohar, who stepped down as BCCI president at the AGM, had told Kochi's owners that in case they needed an extension, they should send a letter signed by all the owners stating they would fulfill their commitments under the franchise agreement or the BCCI could encash the bank guarantee. The franchise had assured Manohar they would send the letter the same evening.

"The last president [Manohar] said that that if you want an extension of two to three days or more, you give us a letter signed by all the owners saying that we undertake to pay the guarantee money by such and such a date," the official said. "And if we fail to do that we have no objection to the bank guarantee to be encashed by the BCCI."

The official said the Kochi owners sent a "simple letter" that did not include all the details Manohar had asked for and so the board took the decision to terminate the franchise. "[These] things do not work. It is even unfair to the other franchises."

According to the official, the BCCI was not worried about Kochi going to court because it was the franchise that had defaulted. As for the players, they are likely to go back into the auction. "And in case the players' dues are not paid, we would ensure that it is paid from the bank guarantee money we encash."

The chairman of Kochi, Mukesh Patel, however, denied that the franchise owed the board any money. "The BCCI notice is wrong, prima facie," he told PTI. "We will take legal action against them after our legal team reviews the case in a day or two. Maybe we have to move court. We have never defaulted. The BCCI will be paying us Rs 12 to 15 crore ($2.5 million to $3.13 million) next month as a part of our central revenue."

The franchise's dispute centres on the BCCI's decision to reduce the number of IPL games from 94 to 74. "The number of games in Tender Document was 94; they then reduced it to 74 but did not reduce the franchise fees."

The BCCI also appointed Rajiv Shukla as the new IPL chairman, succeeding Chirayu Amin, and said that the league's governing council would take a decision on whether to have another auction for a new franchise. With Kochi's termination, the ten-team competition will be reduced to nine.

The consortium that owns Kochi is reported to have defaulted on an annual payment of Rs 156 crores as a bank guarantee. In April 2010, the BCCI's working committee had rejected demands from Kochi and Pune Warriors for a reduction in their franchisee fees. The two new franchises, which made their debuts in 2011, had sought a 25% waiver on the grounds that the BCCI had stated in the bidding document that each team would play 18 league matches in a season. The schedule was later reduced to 14 matches per team.

The two teams already paid 75% of this year's installment and wanted the balance waived. They argued the reduction in matches was a breach of the terms of the Invitation to Tender the BCCI had issued before the two new teams were bought. Since they had based their bid on the number of matches to be played, a reduction should therefore be accompanied by a reduction in the franchise fee. However, the BCCI voted to turn down the request at its meeting in Mumbai in April.

In March 2010, the Sahara group had bid $370 million to became owners of the Pune franchise while a consortium of five companies called Rendezvous Sports World offered $333.33 million for Kochi. © ESPN EMEA Ltd

Nerveless Chennai surge to top spot

Chennai Super Kings 152 for 5 (Saha 46, Hussey 32) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 141 for 5 (Hodge 51*, McCullum 33) by 12 runs

	Wriddhiman Saha was an unlikely top-scorer for Chennai Super Kings © AFP

The MA Chidambaram Stadium continued to be a fortress that couldn't be breached, as Chennai sealed a seventh straight win at home to end Kochi Tuskers Kerala's maiden IPL campaign on a disappointing note. The win for the hosts was the only constant on an otherwise unusual day in Chennai. To begin with, it was not oppressively hot on a summer's day; the pitch played slow and low and Kochi bowled with discipline to limit a power-packed batting line-up to a gettable total. The home side found an unlikely hero in Wriddhiman Saha, who seized on a promotion and an early let-off to play a decisive cameo. Lapses by Parthiv Patel, the replacement captain, with the gloves, and Kochi's struggles to step it up in the chase, meant Chennai's score of 152 was more than adequate.

For those who witnessed Adam Gilchrist's ruthless onslaught against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday, this was a slightly laborious affair. The Kochi bowlers varied their lengths well and did not offer too many scoring opportunities; the seamers refrained from doling out length deliveries, while Muttiah Muralitharan prompted caution. Each time the hosts tried to improvise and go on the attack, they were pegged back by a wicket, earned by Kochi rather than handed out.

M Vijay smashed RP Singh for three boundaries in the third over, but was cleaned up by a perfectly-aimed yorker off the final ball. Suresh Raina was dropped by Parthiv first ball, and Sreesanth, the frustrated party, was made to rue that lapse with two huge sixes over long-on. But the bowler hit back in the same over, when Raina miscued a full toss. S Badrinath smashed a six over midwicket, but was caught brilliantly off the next ball when RP dived full length in the deep to pluck a catch inches from the ground. Saha, though, bucked the trend.

In a contrast to his senior partner Michael Hussey, who was tied down by the steady fall of wickets and his own struggle to push on, Saha infused some urgency in the Chennai innings after surviving a missed stumping by Parthiv. In a clear sign of intent following the second time-out at the end of the 13th over - the scoring rate was fractionally over six at that stage - Saha swept Ravindra Jadeja for six over square leg. In addition to aggressive running between the wickets and an adeptness in rotating the strike, Saha, picked for the Indian tour of West Indies, also indulged in some powerplay. He charged out to Muralitharan to loft him out of the ground and pulled RP into the stands behind deep midwicket to end the Chennai innings on a high.

Kochi needed a big win to keep themselves mathematically alive in this competition, but even the usually dominating Brendon McCullum was forced to exercise restraint against some determined bowling. R Ashwin kept one end locked up with his variations in turn, flight and pace, and sent back Parthiv in his second over. McCullum and Gnaneswara Rao picked up a couple of boundaries each but the innings appeared to stagnate soon after Rao's dismissal. McCullum and Brad Hodge could do little during their stand to get on par with the climbing required-rate. Chennai didn't concede a single boundary in the three overs that followed McCullum's exit at 85 in the 14th over.

Kochi did manage a belated surge with Jadeja and Hodge trying to salvage what they could out of an impending defeat, reducing the margin of the loss to 12 runs - incidentally, the difference in Parthiv's expected target at the toss. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Karthik blitz keeps Punjab in race

Kings XI Punjab 181 for 4 (Dinesh Karthik 69, RP Singh 4-25) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 178 for 7 (Jayawardene 76, Bipul Sharma 2-32) by 6 wickets
Scorecard and ball by ball details

	Dinesh Karthik's 69 off 33 balls kept Kings XI Punjab's play-off hopes alive © AFP

Kings XI Punjab beat the Kochi Tuskers Kerala by six wickets in a boundary-rich encounter at the IPL's newest venue, Indore, keeping their hopes of making the play-offs alive. Emphatic batting from Dinesh Karthik and Shaun Marsh, who put on a 111-run stand for the third-wicket, made the difference on a surface that was good for batting, in a stadium with short boundaries and a quick outfield.

Karthik and Marsh's bruising combination nullified the earlier efforts of Mahela Jayawardene. The Kochi captain had played a classy innings of 76 in which he alternated effortlessly between elegant flicks, casual lofted strokes and crunching blows to propel the Kochi ship to 178.

Adam Gilchrist and Paul Valthathy started the chase in measured fashion against RP Singh and Sreesanth but with the target they had to chase, they could not afford to hang around for too long. Valthaty began the assault, smashing RP for two sixes off short balls before being bowled with the full one.

Gilchrist continued watchfully and was out in RP's next over, trying to pull over midwicket but only succeeding in getting an edge through to Parthiv Patel, leaving Punjab in trouble.

Karthik and Marsh weren't pushed into a shell by that though. They took on the bowling and managed at least one boundary off every over they faced together. Some overs were more profitable than others. Marsh was feeding off the full delivery, getting under them and driving aerially, while Karthik cashed in on the short balls. He hit the balls particularly furiously and brought up his 50 with a blistering swipe through midwicket.

As he and Marsh had Punjab needing about a run-a-ball for victory, when RP returned and struck twice again. Karthik drove in the air to extra cover and Mahela Jayawardene timed his leap to perfection, snatching it out of the sky. He stuck again in that over, removing Marsh with a spectacular reflex catch off his own bowling.

It slowed Punjab down a touch, but not enough as David Hussey and Mandeep Singh took them across the finish line. In the end Punjab got away with the 19 wides they sent down while bowling and the blistering start they allowed Jayawardene and Brendon McCullum to get off to.

The Kochi pair were offered a healthy amount of short ball and flighted deliveries from Ryan Harris and Bipul Sharma and took full advantage. The nature of the track allowed them to punish even decent balls and they put on 93 for the first wicket. McCullum fell to Sharma after being trapped lbw while attempting the sweep shot but Jayawardene was unmoved by the loss of his partner.

With Ravindra Jadeja, he took Kochi to 103 for 1 at the halfway stage. Jadeja smacked one gorgeous six off Piyush Chawla before the lespinner had him out lbw. The runs slowed a little after that. The third fifty took 44 balls to come, during which Jadeja and Brad Hodge were out, and Jayawardene had to rein himself in a little.

He formed another damaging partnership with Owais Shah, who had his first outing in the IPL this season. Shah hit an entertaining 23 off 11 balls before being run-out after struggling to hear the call from Jayawardene, who was himself run out off the last ball. A flurry of wickets at the end pegged Kochi back and kept them from striding over the 200 mark. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Brilliant Bangalore demolish Kochi

Royal Challengers Bangalore 128 for 1 (Dilshan 52*, Gayle 44) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 125 for 9 (Aravind 2-20, Vettori 2-24) by nine wickets

	Chris Gayle bullied Kochi Tuskers Kerala © AFP

If you aren't a fan of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, there's good news and bad news. The good news first: Tillakaratne Dilshan has found form late, and will not unleash any more violence in the IPL, since he is headed to England. The bad news is that Chris Gayle is in such form that you probably wouldn't notice Dilshan's absence. And then there is worse news - Bangalore are fielding like a team possessed. The hapless Kochi Tuskers Kerala ran into each of these facets of Bangalore's brilliance, and were brushed away by nine wickets, with 6.5 overs to spare.

Match Meter KTK Bangalore begin poorly: Kochi capitalise against the new ball, and march to 64 for 1 in eight overs RCB The beginning of a field day: de Villiers and Zaheer sizzle in the field, to dismiss Parthiv and Hodge. Kochi never recover, and stumble to 125 RCB Dilshan back in form: Powar bowls the second over of the chase and Dilshan pummels 20 runs. Things are about to get worse for Kochi … RCB Thirty-seven: Gayle plunders 37 off Prasanth Parameswaran's first over, third of the innings. The crowd's evening is about to end very early Advantage Honours even

On a day when their franchise went green, Gayle and Dilshan did more than their bit for the environment, setting up a finish before the floodlights took full effect. Gayle began the mayhem by depositing RP Singh into the second tier behind long-off in the first over. Dilshan responded by looting 20 runs off Ramesh Powar in the second over. What followed was not for children and the faint-hearted.

At the start of Prasanth Parameswaran's over, if you had stopped him and said he was going to do worse than concede six sixes, he would have laughed it off. After all, he was a man who had stared Virender Sehwag in the face and nailed him in his first IPL over. Today was a different day, though.

Parameswaran chugged in and delivered a length ball first up, and Gayle carved it over point for a six. Parameswaran did not flinch; Sehwag had done likewise the other day before perishing. Today, Parameswaran's second ball was a slower ball. Bad idea. Worse, it was a no-ball. Gayle slashed him for six more. The free-hit was thumped through midwicket. The next ball was thundered through the covers. By now, Parameswaran was clearly rattled, and he ran in robotically to delivery two more length balls. Six over cover, followed by a shimmy down the track and a 91 metre six over long-off. The last ball was a high full toss, and Gayle inside-edged for four more. The over had gone for 37, and Parameswaran had a story his grandchildren would ask him to relate years from now. Kochi, meanwhile were looking for an early flight out. Dilshan ensured they would have enough time to beat the Bangalore traffic and make it to the airport in time.

Incredibly, Bangalore were just as clinical on the field. Daniel Vettori made masterly bowling changes on a sluggish track. He came on after his fast bowlers had allowed Kochi to get off to a good start, and stalled them with two huge wickets. His fielders - from the usually nimble AB de Villiers, to the rarely agile Zaheer Khan - responded with brilliance, and Kochi lurched from 64 for 1 in eight overs to 89 for 5 in 14, before finishing on 125 for 9.

Kochi's problems began with Brendon McCullum's inability to adapt to the slowness of the strip, though Michael Klinger's smart footwork got them early boundaries. Vettori switched to Plan B after four overs, bringing Gayle and himself on. McCullum charged Gayle for two fours, but Vettori lulled him into an awry swipe with a smart variation in length.

Parthiv Patel kept looking for boundaries, and Kochi had managed at least one in each of the first eight overs. The party was about to end though: Bangalore struck in each of the next three overs. Klinger yorked himself by charging out to Gayle, before Vettori cracked the game open by getting Mahela Jayawardene to edge behind. Bangalore's fielding then took centre-stage.

Brad Hodge nudged his first ball behind point and took off for a non-existent single. Parthiv responded before pulling out of the run, and was soon running alongside Hodge towards the bowler's end. AB de Villiers pouched the wide throw on the dive with his left glove and, not knowing that both batsmen were stranded close to the other end, threw down the stumps in one smooth motion as he tumbled.

Three overs later, Zaheer Khan bettered the effort: Hodge whipped S Aravind off the hips and the ball was hurtling towards the boundary when Zaheer jumped up full length and intercepted with one hand at short fine leg. Kochi were visibly stunned, and never looked like recovering. Bangalore's fielding kept bettering itself right up to the last over, when Mohammad Kaif took a brilliant catch running forward, and de Villiers slung-shot another run-out. What followed after the break was just plain cartoonish violence. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Gomez and Hodge star in hard-fought win

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 156 for 5 (Jayawardene 55, Unadkat 2-25) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 139 for 7 (Morgan 66, Gomez 2-14 by 17 runs

	Eoin Morgan opened up late, but Kochi's bowlers held their nerve to finish on the winning side © AFP

A disciplined performance in the field and an explosive 35 off 19 balls from Brad Hodge helped Kochi Tuskers overcome Kolkata Knight Riders in the last match at the Nehru Stadium this IPL season.

Hodge's last over blitz, in which he took 21 runs off countryman Brett Lee, proved to be the difference between the two sides, as Kochi defended 156 by 17 runs. In the chase, RP Singh and Sreesanth failed to get the same kind of movement that Brett Lee extracted early in the Kochi innings. Jacques Kallis and Eoin Morgan didn't have to take many risks early on as there were many poor deliveries that were smacked to the boundary. In the first three overs, the bulk of the short and wide ones came from RP Singh.

R Vinay Kumar and Prasanth Parameswaran pulled back the chase before it raged out of control with a selection of back of a length deliveries that proved difficult to get away. Although they kept the boundaries down, they didn't trouble the batsmen much and failed to get a breakthrough until after the halfway stage, when Kolkata were well set. Kallis was the senior partner and easily outscored Morgan in that phase. Seven times in the first ten overs Kallis stole the strike at the end of the over.

Just as Kallis looked as though he had grown roots, Raiphi Gomez rattled Kolkata with a double strike in his second over. He bowled Kallis with a legcutter and had Gautam Gambhir caught in the covers off consecutive balls, which left Morgan to assume the senior role. Manoj Tiwary could not last long, and Yusuf Pathan was expected to counterattack, but he and Morgan were frustrated by Gomez's variations and Parameswaran's accurate fuller deliveries. Sreesanth let the noose loosen, giving Morgan back-to-back boundaries but Vinay Kumar was on hand to tighten it. Confusions between Morgan and Yusuf mounted in Vinay's last over, and Morgan was run out when both batsmen ended up at the wicketkeeper's end.

It brought Brett Lee to the crease, in poetic justice for the last over he bowled, which went for 21. There were 25 to get off the last over of Kolkata's innings. Lee was run-out and the task proved too steep.

Kochi's innings was anchored by a third-wicket partnership between Mahela Jayawardene and Michael Klinger before being given momentum at the death by Hodge. It didn't look as though Kochi would get over the 150-run mark, especially after the way things started. Lee's first over was a whole bag of peaches. He got impressive away movement and started the innings with a maiden.

Some success seemed inevitable after the start Kolkata got and it came from Jaidev Unadkat, although he hardly deserved it. He banged one in, too short and too wide outside off that Brendon McCullum chased and his fine edge nestled in Kallis' hands at slip.

Parthiv Patel came in at No. 3 and opened his account with two stunning boundaries. He looked energetic and confident in his strokeplay and dealt with Unadkat's bouncer and the introduction of spin, in the form of Iqbal Abdulla, with relative ease. Surprisingly, it was the short ball that undid him, when he charged down the track and miscued a pull shot to midwicket.

The stage was set for Jayawardene to play an innings of authority and, with Klinger at the other end, he did exactly that. They played creative cricket, managing a boundary off five of the seven overs they were together for and pushed each other to take singles before Klinger holed out. When Abdulla got the wicket of Ravindra Jadeja for eight, Kochi were being pegged back and some impetus was needed.

The floodgates were opened with Jayawardene's six over long leg at the start of the 17th over and Kochi put on 54 runs in the final four overs, with Hodge's fireworks yielding almost half of those. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

All-round Kochi pummel Delhi

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 141 for 3 (Parthiv 37*, McCullum 37) beat Delhi Daredevils 140 for 6 (Venugopal 40) by seven wickets

	Brendon McCullum's aggressive cameo made sure Kochi faced no hiccups © AFP

Five defeats at home have meant the Feroz Shah Kotla faithful have had little to cheer this season, and today was the bleakest day since Delhi Daredevils were routed by Mumbai Indians in their opening game. Two days after a Virender Sehwag special handed Kochi Tuskers Kerala a hiding, it was the turn of Mahela Jayawardene's men to outclass Delhi, snapping a three-game losing streak by cruising to victory with five overs to go.

The Kotla track has been everything from a batting beauty to a square turner this season, but though the pitch was neither of those extremes on Monday, Delhi's batsmen struggled to a sub-par total, and like generous hosts, their bowlers gave the visitors 18 extras to ease Kochi's path to victory.

Delhi's batting is hugely reliant on their two lethal hitters at the top of the order, Virender Sehwag and David Warner, and their early exits derailed their innings. Sehwag swatted a couple of fours in the first over, and greeted the debutant Prasanth Parameswaran with a brutal hit for six in the third over. Three balls later, though, Parameswaran had a moment to remember, getting Sehwag caught behind. And when Warner pulled Sreesanth to long-on, Delhi were down to 42 for 2.

It wasn't exactly vintage Twenty20 batting after that as Venugopal Rao and Yogesh Nagar put on the biggest stand of the innings at just over a-run-a-ball. There was a surprise bouncer down the leg side from the left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja, and a ball that bounced twice from Vinay Kumar and was swiped for four, but otherwise it was mostly sedate stuff.

The arrival of Travis Birt spiced up things as he chipped in with a series of innovative strokes, scoring virtually all his runs behind the wicket. The highlight of the innings was his angled glide for four through third man, after he went down on a knee and initially looked to paddle the ball.

Delhi's chances of winning hinged on keeping in tight and getting rid of the big names at the top of the Kochi batting early. Instead, Irfan Pathan sprayed five wides in the first over, and then gifted a boundary by slipping the ball down the leg side. Brendon McCullum then caned Morne Morkel for three fours in the next over, and the game was as good as over after Umesh Yadav's first over went for 23. There was a classic McCullum extra cover drive, a chest-high full toss that was unintentionally clipped for six, another short ball that was crashed for six more, before a muscled four through cover-point propelled Kochi to 53 for 0 after four overs.

The openers were dismissed soon after, but with the asking rate at 5 and the likes of Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge to come, the next half hour was mostly about completing the formalities. Jayawardene was needlessly run-out, before Parthiv Patel and Hodge killed off any Delhi dreams of a comeback with an unbroken 52-run stand.

The result leaves Delhi needing five wins in their remaining matches to reach the final four, and while Kochi moved up to eight points, their route to the semi-finals isn't straight-forward either. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.

Delhi rout Kochi after Sehwag masterclass

Delhi Daredevils 157 for 7 (Sehwag 80, Sreesanth 2-10) beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala 119 (Jadeja 31, M Morkel 3-18) by 38 runs

	Virender Sehwag: Making light of a dodgy wicket © AFP

Virender Sehwag showcased his class on a tricky Nehru Stadium surface on which numerous deliveries hardly got up above ankle height. Sehwag took his time before exploding in the end to lift Delhi Daredevils to 157, a score that proved beyond Kochi Tuskers Kerala and breathed some life in to Delhi's doddering campaign. In a knock that must surely go down as one of the best IPL innings, Sehwag smashed 49 off his last 15 deliveries to surge to 80 off 47, on a wicket where even survival was an achievement for batsmen.

Smarting from the big defeat against Deccan Chargers on a green-tinged home pitch, Kochi went to the opposite spectrum of surface preparation, dishing out a dry and loose wicket on which the ball kept alarmingly low right from the start. But they ran in to a determined Sehwag who, quickly realising that his usual cavalier style was not going to work, changed his approach, playing as safely as a Sehwag can.

The surface had come under scrutiny at the toss when Sehwag voiced doubts over it, saying the top surface was coming loose when someone walked on the wicket. Right away, the first ball from Sreesanth, in the second over, hardly got above David Warner's shin, and disturbed his off stump as he was caught clueless on the back foot. The fourth ball just rolled along the ground after pitching on a length, catching Naman Ojha on the boot in front of leg stump as Sehwag watched incredulously from the non-striker's end.

Delhi's innings was built around a 56-run stand between Yogesh Nagar and Sehwag after Venugopal Rao fell to leave them at 35 for 3 in the seventh over. The extent to which Sehwag reined himself in was evident when Delhi went without a boundary for 38 balls. It was Nagar who ended the drought when he launched R Vinay Kumar past extra cover in the 12th over.

Match Meter KTK Sreesanth strikes twice in second overSreesanth bowls David Warner and gets Naman Ojha lbw with balls that barely get up.4 for 2 DDKTK Sehwag and Nagar rebuild Virender Sehwag and Yogesh Nagar add 56 for the fourth wicket to help Delhi recover DD Sehwag blazes away Sehwag takes off towards the end, his 80 off 47 lifting Delhi to a challenging 157 on the unpredictable surface DD Irfan takes out top order Irfan Pathan and Morne Morkel run through the Kochi top order, reducing them to 28 for 3 DD Jayawardene and Hodge fall Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge go in an attempt to tackle the mounting asking rate. Despite Ravindra Jadeja's 31, Roelof van der Merwe mops up the tail for a 38-run win Advantage Honours even

Sehwag, who was on a scarcely believable 31 off 32, broke free in the next over, slamming Ravindra Jadeja for consecutive sixes over long-off and deep midwicket. On a pitch where batsmen were finding it difficult to hang in, Sehwag toyed with the bowling. The shots that had been put away came out in a torrent of calculated hitting. It rained pulls, whips, inside-out lofts, late cuts on a hapless Kochi attack. Vinay Kumar disappeared for 15 in the 15th over, B Akhil was scattered for 18 in the next.

Sehwag's complete control over his craft was on display against Ramesh Powar. Even as the offspinner tossed the ball up, Sehwag found time to dance down the track and lift him effortlessly against the turn over extra cover. His dismissal in the next over off Vinay was also characteristic, caught at deep extra cover on the edge of the rope, going inside out with three men in front of square on the off side boundary. But his charge lifted Delhi to 157, after they had been 62 for 3 in the 13th over.

Shell-shocked Kochi's only chance on the treacherous wicket was if their top order came good, but it wasn't to be. The pitch didn't play a major role in the first two dismissals though. IPL debutant Michael Klinger flicked Morne Morkel only for Roelof van der Merwe, in for the injured James Hopes, to pull off a blinder at square leg. Two deliveries later, Brendon McCullum decided that the only way to tackle the unpredictable surface was the blind charge, and lost his middle stump to Irfan Pathan.

Parthiv Patel found just how difficult the track was, as a back-of-a-length Pathan delivery barely rose a foot, easily going under his defensive push and disturbing off stump. As a disgusted Parthiv walked off in a volley of expletives, it was left to Kochi's two most-experienced batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Brad Hodge, to salvage the chase from 28 for 3.

Jayawardene hung around for a while but it was always going to be difficult to get more than eight an over on such a wicket. In trying to whip Ajit Agarkar over midwicket, he spooned a tame catch to Sehwag when on 18. Hodge could not capitalise on a dropped chance by Pathan on 15 and his dismissal by Morne Morkel in the 14th over effectively ended Kochi's chances though a few hits from Ravindra Jadeja reduced the margin of defeat. © ESPN EMEA Ltd.