It’s a bowler’s nightmare to bowl to Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at their best - together, they are as lethal as they come. While either can hit with utter disdain, Gambhir preferred the ground shots on Monday and Sehwag was never afraid to carve the aerial route. And on Monday, the Bangalore Royal Challengers slumped to another defeat, this time a five-wicket loss to Delhi Daredevils.

Chasing 155, the duo produced fireworks. The southpaw was the first to take the attack to the opposition camp from the first ball itself when he flicked Dale Steyn to the square leg fence. Then again in the third over, the bowler was smashed off consecutive balls past the fence. Delhi dasher Sehwag also unleashed his flurry of shots, hitting Zaheer Khan for three fours in an over.

Then, in a mad frenzy to score quickly, Sehwag departed, but not before he picked Praveen Kumar for special treatment, hitting him for three boundaries and a six. He went again for a big one, but this time he didn’t connect a short of length, outside off-stump delivery. Bharat Chipli took a stunning catch at point.

His departure didn’t make much of a difference as, by then, Delhi were 90 for 1 in 7 overs. His 19-ball knock of 47 was so fluid that it was punctuated by only three dots.

Two overs later, Gambhir also joined Sehwag. The unyielding yet attacking Gambhir got out in the only way that looked possible: a run-out. He set off for a risky second and paid the price. He completed 500 runs in the IPL. Already a proprietor of the Orange Cap, it will take some doing for others to seize the cap from the batsman, who is miles ahead.

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