Victoria Bushrangers proved too good for Delhi Daredevils, winning their opening Group D match in the Champions League Twenty20 by seven wickets, at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday.
After little-known Clint McKay (3 for 17) and Shane Harwood (2 for 20) wreaked havoc with the ball to help Bushrangers restrict the hosts to a paltry 98, opener Robert Quiney blazed away to 40 off 33 deliveries, and captain Cameron White scored a patient 22, as the Australian side chased down the target, finishing on 100, in 16.4 overs for the loss of only three wickets.
Only Virender Sehwag (21), Tillakaratne Dilshan (18) and Minthun Manhas (25) could get into double figures, the other batsmen making a mockery of Delhi Daredevils' decision to bat first on a slow Kotla wicket.
It was a good day for Australian teams, as, in the day's earlier match, New South Wales scored an easy five-wicket victory over Diamond Eagles
Victoria openers Quiney and Brad Hodge (9) started their chase cautiously and dealt mostly in singles and twos with occasional hits to the fence to fetch 32 runs from the first five overs.
Left-handed Quiney, who plays for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, was the aggressor among the two. He hit four fours and three huge sixes in his 33-ball stay at the wicket.
He struck three massive sixes -- one of Ashish Nehra and two off leg-spinner Amit Mishra as Victoria raced to 55. But Mishra finally had his revenge, clean bowling Quiney, but not before he added valuable 55 runs for the opening wicket with Hodge.
Hodge soon followed suit. The right-hander's timbers were disturbed by Dilshan as he went for an extravagant pull but missed completely to see his middle stump knocked out.
From there on victory was just a formality. White and David Hussey put together a 23-run stand to take Victoria closer to the target.
Just when it seemed the two would finish the proceedings, Hussey played on a Bhatia delivery. But White and Aiden Blizzard ensured there were no more casualties.
Blizzard finished off the innings in style, dispatching Bhatia over the long-on boundary.
Earlier, Sehwag seemed determined to make the most out of the outing and started the Daredevils innings in style, hitting Harwood for back-to-back boundaries in the opening over.
His opening partner and captain Gautam Gambhir's stay at the crease though was a struggle. It finally ended when a low Harwood delivery cannoned into the stumps, the left-hander late in getting his bat down.
Sehwag showed glimpses of his ominous best, finding the fence four times during his 15-ball stay at the middle, but fell to a blinder of a catch by Mckay off his own bowling.
Sehwag advanced, but could only chip the ball to the leg side. McKay threw himself to his right and took a brilliant catch, inches from the ground.
Daredevils were in further trouble when Owais Shah departed without opening his account, nicking one from McKay to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade. That left the hosts reeling at 42 for three after seven overs.
Dinesh Karthik (6) too did not last long, out to a mix up with Dilshan. Cameron White's throw to the bowler, McDonald, caught Karthik, who was almost halfway down the pitch, well out of his crease.
Dilshan and an injured Mithun Manhas did try to resurrect the Daredevils innings with a 29-run fifth wicket stand, but the Sri Lankan also perished in search of quick runs.
McKay picked his third wicket by rattling the right-hander's timbers, with the Daredevils scoreboard reading 76 for 5 in 15.1 overs.
Down with a hamstring injury, Manhas's struggle in the middle finally ended when Harwood cleaned him up to polish off the Daredevils' top-order.
Andrew McDonald also registered wickets against his name, castling Rajat Bhatia (8) and Pradeep Sangwan (1) with the last two deliveries of the Delhi innings.
Much to the disappointment of local fans, Daredevils' struggle was summed up by the fact that none of their batsmen could hit a six in the 20 overs.
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