A
B de Villiers blasted 90 not out as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
defeated Delhi Daredevils (DD) by six wickets yesterday to end their
two-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
After
Rishabh Pant (85) and Shreyas Iyer (52) helped Delhi post a fighting
174/5, de Villiers, who struck 10 fours and five sixes during his
39-ball unbeaten knock, single-handedly guided the hosts to the crucial
win with two overs to spare.
South African de Villiers shared a
63-run third-wicket stand with captain Virat Kohli (30) at the M.
Chinnaswamy Stadium as RCB posted their second win in five games.
RCB
were in trouble after losing openers Quinton de Kock and Manan Vohra
(2), with the latter failing to justify his inclusion in place of
Sarfraz Khan.
De Villiers dished out a batting masterclass as he
whacked Shahbaz Nadeem for five fours, while medium pacers Harshal Patel
and Chris Morris too failed to control the right-handed batsman.
With
78 required of eight overs, Harshal conceded two sixes and a four to
bring the target down to 60 off seven overs - it tilted the match in
favour of the hosts. In the following over, de Villiers hit Rahul
Tewatia for a six as the bowler ended up conceding 11 runs.
In the
15th over bowled by Morris, de Villiers was again on the attack, hitting
his compatriot for a six and a four to reduce the asking rate under
seven. Afterwards, it proved to be easy for them to secure the win.
Following the win, RCB are now fifth in the points table, while Delhi are at the bottom with a single win in five games.
Earlier
in the first innings of the match between two bottom-placed teams, Iyer
and Pant shared a 75-run partnership for the third wicket as Delhi
recovered from a poor start.
Put into bat, Delhi were off to a poor
beginning as both the openers Jason Roy (5) and Gautam Gambhir (3) were
back in the dug-out with the scorecard read just 23 runs in 5.4 overs.
While
pacer Umesh Yadav dismissed Gambhir, spinner Yuzvendra Chahal clean
bowled Roy. Pant and Iyer eased the pressure on the visitors as they
took time to settle down before finding occasional big shots.
Spinner
Washington Sundar finally broke Delhi’s momentum, dismissing Iyer, who
was looking good, in the 14th over with Delhi’s score being 98/3. Iyer
departed after hitting four fours and three sixes.
With the addition of just another seven runs in Delhi’ scorecard, Chahal sent back incoming batter Glenn Maxwell (4).
However, Pant kept the fight alive for his side and slammed 18 runs off a Chris Woakes’ 18th over to lift Delhi to 163/4.
Trying
to go big in the final over, Pant was finally dismissed by Corey
Anderson. The Delhi batter’s 48-ball 85-run knock was guided by six
boundaries and seven sixes.
Tewatia’s 13 off 9 for Delhi helped the visitors reach a fighting total.
For RCB, Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/22 while Umesh, Anderson and Sundar bagged one wicket apiece.
Brief
Scores: Delhi Daredevils: 174/5 (Rishabh Pant 85, Shreayas Iyer 52;
Yuzvendra Chahal 2/22) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: 176/4 in 18 overs
(AB de Villiers 90 not out, Virat Kohli 30; Glenn Maxwell 1/13).
Royal Challengers batsman A B De Villiers in action during the IPL match against Delhi Daredevils in Bangalore yesterday. (AFP)