Kochi Tuskers pummel Delhi Daredevils

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

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.

Full report to follow

20 overs Delhi Daredevils 140 for 6 (Venugopal 40) v Kochi Tuskers Kerala
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

	Things would have been worse for Delhi if not for Venugopal Rao © AFP Enlarge

The Feroz Shah Kotla was neither the square turner it was in the Kolkata Knight Riders match nor was it the batting beauty that it was in the Kings XI Punjab match. Even though there wasn't too much to interest the bowlers, Delhi's batsmen struggled to force the pace in their crucial match against fellow stragglers Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Only three overs in the innings went for ten or more as Delhi settled for a middling score of 140. Things could have been worse for them if not for the steadying influence of Venugopal Rao in the middle order.

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 exit derailed the home side's 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 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. Despite his efforts though, the total will be tough to defend for Delhi, and will make their chances of making the semi-final even more remote.