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Sharjah: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in IPL-7 game at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Delhi Daredevils dropped the dangerous Virat Kohli twice in their eight-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore at Sharjah on Thursday night. The RCB captain got reprieves on 23 and 24 in the 13th over bowled by Wayne Parnell. Kohli not out on 49 off 38 balls. He struck two fours and three maximum, cut loose after those drops and along with Yuvraj Singh (52* off 29 balls, 3x4, 5x6) took RCB over the line in 16.4 overs.
In pursuit of a modest 146, RCB lost Australian Nic Maddinson to Mohammed Shami in the second over for six as the left-hander nicked a bouncer going down leg to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik. Parthiv Patel didn't let the early wicket affect the team, putting on view some exquisite shots. However, after adding 56 with Virat Kohli, who was subdued in the partnership, Patel was cleaned up by legspinner Rahul Sharma for 37 off 28 balls with five boundaries and a six.
The scoring became a bit difficult for Kohli and new batsman Yuvraj over the next couple of overs. With RCB 86 for 2 in 12 overs, the match was nicely poised but the drops by IPL debutant Jimmy Neesham at backward square leg and Mayank Agarwal at deep cover in the next over doused whatever little hopes DD had. The next two overs yielded 35 runs with Kohli scoring 21 out of them with the help of three sixes. It was a matter of time before both batsmen took the team over the line.
Earlier, after being put in to bat, DD suffered a bad start, losing their top four in the blink of an eye. On a two-faced pitch, RCB medium pacers Mitchell Starc, Albie Morkel and Varun Aaron sparkled, getting rid of Agarwal (6), stand-in captain Karthik (0) and Manoj Tiwary (1) respectively. Agarwal got undone by a ball that got big on him, resulting in a miscued pull shot; Karthik fell caught-behind to a delivery that moved away from him, while Tiwary tried to flick a ball going down leg but found the gloves of Patel.
Legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal then cleaned up Murali Vijay for 18 with a legbreak, leaving DD tottering at 35 for 4 in 7.1 overs. Ross Taylor then joined JP Duminy at the crease and both began DD's revival in earnest.
Singles and doubles were the order of DD's innings over the next few overs. The boundary hit by Taylor in the 13th over came after a gap of 42 balls. With 82 for 4 in 15 overs, DD were in a crying need for big runs and Duminy cut loose reading the situation really well.
The last five overs yielded 63 runs for DD with Duminy scoring majority of the runs - 40. He finished DD's innings on 145 with a six and a four off the bowling of medium pacer Ashok Dinda. Duminy (67 off 43 balls, 4x4s, 3x6s) and Taylor (43 off 39 balls, 4x4s) put on a record fifth-wicket stand (110*) for the Delhi-based team.
Earlier, Bangalore have won the toss and have opted to field.
Injured Chris Gayle misses out. Nic Maddinson, Mitchell Starc, AB de Villiers and Albie Morkel are the overseas players in RCB squad.
Teams:
Delhi - Murali Vijay, Mayank Agarwal, Dinesh Karthik (Capt. & wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Ross Taylor, Manoj Tiwary, James Neesham, Wayne Parnell, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Sharma, Mohammed Shami
Bangalore - Parthiv Patel (wk), Nic Maddinson, Virat Kohli (Capt.), Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, Albie Morkel, Sachin Rana, Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron
Brief scores
Delhi Daredevils - 145/4 (Duminy 67*, Taylor 43*)
Bangalore Royal Challengers - 146/2 (Yuvraj Singh 52*, Kohli 49*, Patel 37)
Result - Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 8 wickets
Points - Royal Challengers Bangalore 2, Delhi Daredevils 0
