Sehwag delivers on his promise to son

Virender Sehwag reminded cricket fans of his glorious past as he hammered a blazing century, which propelled Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) to an imposing 226 for 6 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the second Qualifier of the Indian Premier League (IPL), at the Wankhede stadium, in Mumbai. In reply, CSK ended up losing by 24 runs despite a terrific 87 off just 25 balls by Suresh Raina.

The out-of-favour India opener, who became the second batsman this season to score a century after Lendl Simmons, was aptly named the Man of the Match. Speaking after the game, Sehwag, who scored a superb 122 off just 58, said he was stroking the ball well throughout the tournament and was due for a big score.

"Throughout the tournament I was hitting well. I had a chat with the Master (Sachin Tendulkar) too. He told me that your hand is going really well and it is just a matter of one innings, just stay there and put a conscious effort to stay there for 10-12 overs and everything will be alright. I had promised someone that I will play at least one good innings. It was Ness Wadia's birthday, I wished him yesterday (Friday) and said, hope I will give the best birthday gift ever," Sehwag said.

Sehwag said his son was not took happy with his performance in the earlier games. "Whenever I got out early, I called my son and he told me Papa you are not a good player, you are not scoring runs. However, I said Beta (son) hold on there are couple of games left, so maybe I will show you what I am capable of."

When Raina was going hammer and tongs, Sehwag though Kings XI had a very slim chance at that stage. The swashbuckling opener praised skipper George Bailey for his superb fielding effort, which resulted in the run-out of the CSK batsman.

"I thought only if Raina made a mistake we had a chance in this game and he was batting tremendously, thanks to George Bailey, it was a great run-out and after that the game changed," Sehwag said.

It will be a repeat of the first qualifier - between Kolkata and Punjab - for the final of this year's edition in Bangalore and Sehwag said he was looking forward to doing well.

"I have played couple of play-offs and semi-finals, but didn't qualify for the final. However, this time we beat the best team, Chennai and hopefully we will go to Bangalore and play the way we want to, the way Punjab are playing (aggressive cricket), so hopefully we play well in the final as well."

Punjab captain Bailey was pleased with Sehwag's performance, showering the opener with praises while he also commended Raina for coming up with a fighting performance.

"The Master, what an innings from Viru which set a lovely platform and a wonderful partnership with Manan to start the game, backed up by Miller and Wridhi at the end to post a really good total. It was almost overshadowed by Suresh's batting, that was something extra ordinary, we have seen two amazing innings tonight."

Speaking about the victory, Bailey said: "Very proud, it was very pleasing, I had a lot going on through my find, taking that first time-out, the positive talk going amongst the group was just fantastic. The belief was to find a way to take a wicket or two. Awana came back beautifully after being hit around, to comeback and bowl the last couple of overs was fantastic and the spinners have done a great job for us.

When asked about his direct hit which caused the run-out of Raina, Bailey attributed it to luck while he praised his team for a good effort on the field.

"He was unlucky wasn't he? It was pot-luck. We needed something like that, we needed to find a way to get back into the game, we had a couple of run-outs and I think our fielding has been pretty good right throughout the tournament. That is something we really pride ourselves on, the young guys set the standard there, they throw themselves around."

Bailey said he was looking forward to the final. "I don't think you get this far without a really good team performance, we put another one in tonight and hopefully we have one more left in us. If it's another game as good as that, then I reckon the game is in pretty good hands isn't it? I hope we play well, I hope Kolkata play well and I hope it is a great final."