Sehwag lauds Mishra for justifying his decision

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) A satisfied Delhi Daredevils' captain Virender Sehwag showered accolades on Amit Mishra's hat-trick performance, saying the spinner justified his decision to give him the last over of the match, after the hosts defeated Deccan Chargers by 12 runs at Feroz Shah Kotla.

''I had full confidence in Amit Mishra, and that is why, I saved him for the last over. He was bowling well and proved my decision correct,'' Sehwag said at the post-match conference last night.

Mishra not only kept his side away from the last over jitters, but also took crucial wickets of Shahid Afridi and Herchelle Gibbs in the early stages of the game and ended with figures of five for 17.

In the last match that Daredevils played at home against Chennai Super Kings, they had to defend exactly the same number of runs (15) in the last over as against Deccan Chargers.

However, Mishra, when asked to bowl the last over, made sure the history does not repeat. In fact, he surprised everyone by claiming a hat-trick.

The Dardevils' captain also expressed displeasure over the crowd's attitude, referring to the incident, when a stone was thrown in the ground during Deccan Chargers' innings.

''It was very shameful on their (crowd) part. I never expected that the Delhi crowd will do such a shameful act to their home team,'' he noted.

The captain further claimed the stone was targetted at him, saying, ''it was thrown at Virender Sehwag.'' Sehwag said his team had been bowling quite well in the tournament and it did the same yesterday as well.

The Daredevils were further benefited by the 132-run second wicket stand between opener Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan, which helped the hosts to post 194 runs against Deccan Chargers who have been struggling in the tournament.

''We have always been batting well in the tournament and our bowling was good too.

''Gautam and Shikhar played quite well so far and our middle-order has not got enough chances to show their skills,'' Sehwag added.

The Daredevils will now take on Kings XI Punjab in their next encounter.

The Delhi captain said, even though Punjab has played well in the tournament, no team can be considered as favourite.

''Every match is a challenge to us. Although, Yuvraj's team has been playing well so far, no team can be considered as favourite because of the format of this game,'' Sehwag said.

''Even on Wednesday, we saw how Jayasurya ran away with the match against Chennai Super Kings and today, had Gilchrist or Gibbs stayed there for a little longer they could have easily changed the course of the game,'' he concluded.

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