Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag on Tuesday gave full credit to Yusuf Pathan for powering Rajasthan Royals to the five-wicket victory over his side and said the right-hander just came in and blew the game away with his clean hitting.
Pathan scored a blistering 60 off 32 balls to help the defending champions register their second victory in the tournament and end Delhi's three-match winning streak. The Rajasthan all-rounder, who smashed six sixes and three boundaries, was involved in an unbroken stand of 83 for the sixth wicket with Graeme Smith to take his team to victory after they were reeling at 64 for five in the 11th over.
"He came in and just thrashed the bowling attack, especially I wasn't expecting Vettori to go for so many runs. He is such a wonderful bowler but Yusuf Pathan got it right," Sehwag said after the match.
"No, you can't complain about that. Yes, we dropped couple of catches and it proved costly but when a batsmen is in such a mood you can't do anything," he added.
The Delhi dasher said the match was under Daredevils' control till Pathan arrived at the crease.
"Till Yusuf [Pathan] came in we were in control and we were expecting to win the game, but Yusuf just came and took the game away from us. You can't do anything to such clean hitting of Pathan. All the sixes went 10 rows into the stand. He really played great cricket," the 30-year-old said.
Daredevils' dynamic opening duo of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have not yet clicked in the second edition of the Indian Premier League and the Delhi captain said it is a matter of concern for his side.
"We expected to score 160-170. What is worrying for us is that up the order me and Gautam are not getting the starts, but still I think 143 was defendable," he said.
Royals skipper Shane Warne also lauded Pathan and said his heroics with the bat ensured the victory for the defending champions.
Apart from Pathan, the legendary Australian spinner also hailed Graeme Smith for his responsible innings up the order.
"Graeme Smith used all his experience at the top, he batted responsibly but Yusuf [Pathan] was fantastic today," Warne said.
The inspirational Royals skipper said the's victory was a result of team effort and would be a confidence booster for the upcoming matches.
"It was a good stepping stone. If we keep performing the same way, we can be a force in the competition."
He also lauded his bowlers, especially Munaf Patel, for restricting the mighty Daredevils batting line-up to the modest score of 143.
Meanwhile, man-of-the-match Pathan said he didn't come out to bat with any specific plan and was just playing his natural game.
"Yes, I am hitting quite well but I didn't target any specific bowler. I just played my natural game," he said.
