More than a touch of relief: Daredevils coach

New Delhi - Delhi Daredevils coach Eric Simons heaved a sigh of relief as Virender Sehwag struck a match-winning unbeaten 95 to guide his team to a nine-wicket win over Mumbai Indians to break the six-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Ferozeshah Kotla here Sunday.

“More than a touch of relief. We never stopped believing in ourselves. When you have lost six in a row, you have to do something, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t,” said Simmons.

The South African said changing the opening pair and dropping David Warner to No.3 was something that the management tried out for the first time against Mumbai Indians here and it proved right.

Sehwag and skipper Mahela Jayawardene (59) gave Daredevils a great start with their massive 151-run first wicket stand and easily chased down the target of 162 in 17 overs.

Simmons thought it would be a tough chase but the wicket got better as the match progressed.

“We have three great opening batsmen so we tried a different combination today. When we were bowling, the pitch was slow; we thought the chase would be tough (but the pitch got better later),” he said.