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Semifinal hopes still alive: Sehwag
Having lost their sixth game in the IPL, Delhi captain Virender Sehwag says they still hope to get into the semifinals.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: May 23, 2008 12:11 PM IST
Read Time:2 min
New Delhi: Delhi Daredevils may have conceded their sixth defeat in 11 matches but skipper Virender Sehwag insists semifinal hopes are not over yet for his side.
Talking to reporters after the Daredevils lost a weather-marred tie to Kings XI Punjab via Duckworth-Lewis method, Sehwag said it was sad to lose such a tight match but his team was not out of the reckoning yet.
"I don't think the semifinal hopes are over. We have to win the next three games and continue the way we are playing. I guess we have to force win in tight matches," he said.
Sehwag conceded his expensive over proved costly in the end in the truncated tie.
"In hindsight, may be bowling that over with Glenn McGrath would have been a better idea but then we did not expect rain and I thought of saving him for the later stage.
"Had the match been played full 20 overs, we would have scored nearly 200 runs, which should have been good enough," he rued.
Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh admitted rain favoured his side, though he felt his side needed to improve in fielding.
"The rain helped our cause and I wanted to chase right from the start. Anyway, our fielding has been quite sloppy and I started it by dropping Viru (Sehwag), which could have proved costly but rain saved us," he said.
Mahela Jayawardene, whose unbeaten 36 off 17 ball not only saw Punjab through but also earned him the Man of the Match award, said he had decided to go after Sehwag.
"It was a challenge to get ahead of them, especially after losing three wickets. I knew we were some 15-20 runs behind them and had to take chance.
"So when Viru came, I decided to go after him and that paid off," added the Sri Lankan.
Talking to reporters after the Daredevils lost a weather-marred tie to Kings XI Punjab via Duckworth-Lewis method, Sehwag said it was sad to lose such a tight match but his team was not out of the reckoning yet.
"I don't think the semifinal hopes are over. We have to win the next three games and continue the way we are playing. I guess we have to force win in tight matches," he said.
Sehwag conceded his expensive over proved costly in the end in the truncated tie.
"In hindsight, may be bowling that over with Glenn McGrath would have been a better idea but then we did not expect rain and I thought of saving him for the later stage.
"Had the match been played full 20 overs, we would have scored nearly 200 runs, which should have been good enough," he rued.
Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh admitted rain favoured his side, though he felt his side needed to improve in fielding.
"The rain helped our cause and I wanted to chase right from the start. Anyway, our fielding has been quite sloppy and I started it by dropping Viru (Sehwag), which could have proved costly but rain saved us," he said.
Mahela Jayawardene, whose unbeaten 36 off 17 ball not only saw Punjab through but also earned him the Man of the Match award, said he had decided to go after Sehwag.
"It was a challenge to get ahead of them, especially after losing three wickets. I knew we were some 15-20 runs behind them and had to take chance.
"So when Viru came, I decided to go after him and that paid off," added the Sri Lankan.
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