Some things come naturally to Aussies. Daredevilry is one.
Sehwag, Gambhir and Karthik were big catches for Sourav Ganguly's men, and two-thirds of the job was done no sooner than the task had begun. But David Warner cared little. The Aussie in him used attack to defend a crumbling Delhi fortress, even while the men Delhi had paid to watch kept trudging back to the hut.
There was one more early victim: Ishant Sharma, apart from getting one through Dinesh Karthik, looked unhappy. The Delhiite, now a Knight Rider, was smashed through extra-cover and mid-off by a tennis-like forehand and found his not-so-short ball pulled by Warner over midwicket with contemptuous disdain. The shot was a classic and demoralised the visitors.
The Knights didn't recover after that as Warner's effervescence was complemented by Paul Collingwood's calm presence, leaving them searching for answers when they'd already solved the trickiest questions.
It weren't just pyrotechnics from Warner, there was plenty of sanity too. Twenty20 cricket might be slam-bang at heart, a la Yusuf Pathan; but Warner showed there are innings to be built and paced.
His first fifty came off 29 deliveries, his next took seven more balls. The sixes were diverse, the fours even more.
Apart from that maximum over midwicket and two others to other parts, there was one over square-leg off a long hop from Murali Kartik, who, continuing his great form, was the only one (apart from David Hussey), to finish his quota with a decent economy rate.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from that maximum over midwicket and two others to other parts, there was one over square-leg off a long hop from Murali Kartik, who, continuing his great form, was the only one (apart from David Hussey), to finish his quota with a decent economy rate.
{{/usCountry}}177 is big, but not huge for a side made up of Gayle, Ganguly, Mathews, Manoj Tiwary and David Hussey. On Monday night though, it looked unassailable, as Knight after Knight failed to stay and do battle. The war had been won in the first quarter itself and it was the lead protagonist, Warner, who walked into the midnight with a bright smile and a man of the match award.