Viru just came and conquered today: Robin Uthappa

Virender Sehwag’s scintillating batting made it a one-side affair for Delhi Daredevils as they beat Pune Warriors by eight wickets in an IPL league match on Tuesday. Giving credit to Sehwag for his outstanding batting, Pune Warriors batsman Robin Uthppa said that Sehwag made batting look so easy.

When asked if they batted too slowly in the first 10 overs, Uthappa said: “I was asking the same question to myself when Sehwag was batting. He made batting look so easy.”

According to a report in The Times Of India, Uthappa added that it was not an easy wicket to bat on since the ball was stopping and not coming on to the bat nicely. When pointed out that Pune won the toss and opted to bat, he said: “Still early days for this wicket. It's just the third match. It was difficult to judge the wicket. It's settling down and in time, we will have a better understanding of the strip.”

Uthappa admitted in saying that they were missing paceman Ashok Dinda, who has been out of three games now due to a side-strain.

Meanwhile, when asked why he didn't step out against spinners, Sehwag said: “What's the need if I can get boundaries by playing within the crease? I knew the spinners would not bowl too slow or full to me. The cut shot was always on.”

A Hindustan Times report says that so destructive was Sehwag that his whirlwind knock made all the good work of Manish Pandey and Robin Uthappa earlier in the day look mediocre. After the Warriors lost their men in form, Jesse Ryder and Sourav Ganguly, with virtually nothing on the board, the duo took time to get used to the slow pitch before upping the scoring rate in the last five overs.
Uthappa summed up the day saying, “Viru just came and conquered today.”

According to a report in DNA, Punjab Cricket Association joint-secretary GS Walia on Tuesday collapsed in his office chair, barely minutes after seeing off Sachin Tendulkar at the gate. Walia, who was the Indian team’s media manager during the recent tour of Australia had presented a cake to birthday boy Tendulkar earlier in the day.

According to a report in Indian Express, expecting a high-scoring game on Wednesday, Chennai Super Kings hope to repeat the gigantic performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore by rekindling fond memories of a nail-biting finish they had scripted when both teams met on April 12.
"Since RCB's batting looks heavy at top of the order fully packed with overseas players, I think it will come down to a nail-biting over and hope we can win this (type of a game) again. It will be a high-scoring game as the history of Chinnaswamy wicket speaks thus," CSK bowling coach Andy Bichel told reporters here.