The toss proved crucial as Sehwag won and put KKR in to bat without hesitation. Van der Merwe started well and got the big wicket of McCullum, trying to pull a delivery too full for the shot. The Delhi pacemen then took over as Yadav and in particular Morne Morkel, whose spell of 3-0-18-3 was inches from a hat-trick, stifled any momentum that Kolkata tried to pick up. The loss of regular wickets prevented a truly challenging total, despite some big hits from Das and Shukla, and 96/9 from 12 never looked enough on a pitch offering plenty of pace and carry.
Sehwag and Finch, no doubt looking nervously over as shoulder with big hitting Pietersen and Warner on the way, started well and a brilliant 42* from 20 balls from Irfan Pathan saw DD home with 5 balls to spare and earnt him man of the match. Were it not for a quiet few overs either side of Sehwag's dismassal the margin would have been even greater. Merchant de Lange, the promising South African, showed signs of serious pace, just ask Aaron Finch, but lacked the variations at the death and his figured suffered from Pathan's late surge.
It really was a great start for Delhi who may have expected a few poor results to open the 5th season given that their big name signings are yet to arrive. Their display in the field won it for them, not just through the bowlers but the ground fielding was near immaculate and saved some vital runs. KKR on the other hand will consider themselves unlucky, both with the toss and the match's shortened nature. They still have a strong line-up, similar to last year's that ended 4th, with the addition of McCullum to fill their problem area at keeper expected to be a good one given his record. Still early days for both sides but a real bonus win for Delhi against a strong KKR side as Pune, Punjab and Rajasthan all make their debut 2012 debuts tomorrow.
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