Ganguly reckons Sehwag's wicket was key to Pune win

Pune Warriors skipper Sourav Ganguly said that his Delhi Daredevils counterpart Virender Sehwag's dismissal at a crucial juncture turned the game in his side's favour in their IPL match played in New Delhi on Saturday.

Sehwag was going great guns before he was dismissed by Murali Kartik for a 32-ball 57 in the 13th over and Delhi batting crumbled after that.

"Sehwag was hitting them hard, so it is a relief when he gets out. Only when Sehwag got out we thought we came back into the game," Ganguly said after his side beat Delhi by 20 runs.

Ganguly dismissed Delhi danger man Kevin Pietersen with his first delivery in the match and he celebrated by a long run, pumping the air.

Asked about it, Ganguly said, "Getting KP out was a big relief obviously, which was the reason behind that run."

He praised young Steven Smith for his cameo of 13-ball 34 towards the end of Pune innings.

Delhi captain Virender Sehwag rued that he should have stayed a little longer and the result could have been different.

"We needed someone to bat on till the end, irrespective of how many batsmen we had. The wicket was good to bat on. I liked batting on this pitch. But I should have batted till the end, at least till the 16th over," he said.

Asked about the run by Ganguly after dismissing Pietersen, Sehwag said, "Never, I have never seen Sourav run the way he did."

Photographs: Sanjay Sawant