Shoaib Akhtar’s dramatic IPL debut on Tuesday night left the Delhi Daredevils line-up in tatters. But Virender Sehwag sat in the dugout with the familiar grin firmly in place as Shah Rukh Khan theatrically hopped into his fast-bowling darling’s arms.

Even after their confidence-sapping last-ball loss to Chennai at the Ferozeshah Kotla last Thursday, Sehwag had retained his sense of humour. “The last over,” he chuckled, when asked what the turning point of the match was.

Sehwag’s never been known to get bogged down by a couple of blips, but if they fail to beat the Deccan Chargers tomorrow, you can expect that smile to be wiped off his face. The Daredevils have now lost four games on the trot, and are definitely slipping in their quest for what at one point seemed like a sure-shot spot in the last four.

Perfect spoilers

Sticking by logic, Hyderabad should not pose much of a problem. They’re languishing at an embarrassing seventh place with just two wins in nine games, and at present, they’re locked in a slightly degrading battle for bottom spot with the Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Bangalore’s woes have been in the spotlight, thanks in no small measure to owner Vijay Mallya — who first sacked CEO Charu Sharma and followed up by slagging captain Rahul Dravid off in the press. Hyderabad, on the other hand, after hogging the limelight in the auction, have been low-profile in their failures.

Unlike Bangalore, their problem hasn’t been the lack of ammunition. They made all the right buys: firepower in the form of Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and Shahid Afridi; parsimony in the form of Chaminda Vaas and RP Singh — at least this wasn’t a ‘Test’ team.

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