After Delhi's defeat in the opening game, an under-pressure captain Gautam Gambhir admitted that a lot of responsibilities rested on his and Virender Sehwag's shoulders if they have to steer Delhi through to the next round. Although he failed, Sehwag stepped up and produced a typical brutal assault to keep Wayamba at bay.
Delhi had opted to bat and after an opening over maiden, Sehwag cut loose. He spanked Isuru Udana past him for four before taking on the same bowler in the following over. He was dropped by Jehan Mubarak at short extra cover and though it was a difficult chance, Sehwag still made them pay.
There was a lull when two star attractions in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Gautam Gambhir departed in quick succession. Those strikes didn't deter Sehwag who gave the raucous home crowd plenty to cheer with some powerful strokes off the front foot.
Farveez Maharoof was brought in to take the pace off the ball and make run-scoring difficult but Sehwag didn't allow him to settle. The track had given the spinners assistance in the NSW game and the Sehwag, perhaps mindful of that, didn't want them to settle into a comfort zone either. Sehwag slogged Kaushal Lokuarachchi's first ball over deep midwicket and constantly took the attack to the spinners as he neared his fifty.
He shared a 67-run stand with Dinesh Karthik which ended when he risked a single to gully and fell short of his ground. He also picked up the Man of the Match award.