Royal Challengers had earlier suffered an agonising defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad a few days back at Uppal in the one-over eliminator, but this time they held their nerve to score a win to go on top of the points chart.
Earlier, the customary profligacy of Royal Challengers bowlers in the death overs helped Daredevils post a competitive total. The visitors rattled 58 runs in the last five overs, 30 in the last two overs, to post 152 for five, a total that seemed far from possible at one stage. It certainly gave RCB something to chase, and they appeared well on course till Daredevils made a late comeback into the match through a clutch of wickets in the final stages of the chase.
But De Villiers, who smoked two sixes off UmeshYadav, and Ravi Rampaul, who bowled cleverly, combined well to help RCB survive the Super Over test.
Before the match came to a tense finale, Chris Gayle’s two sixes early on gave the impression of a night of Caribbean party at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. But an aimless flay at a fuller delivery from Morne Morkel that ended in the hands of Yadav at third man snapped Gayle’s stay.
A near capacity crowd went into a mute mode, but they regained their voices once Kohli and de Villiers milked 103 runs for the entertaining third-wicket stand.
Uncanny similarity
There is no better sight on a cricket field than watching Kohli and de Villiers in their zone. There’s an uncanny similarity as well to their batting, especially in their off-side play. Both the batsmen fuse power, elegance and timing quite effortlessly, leaving the fielders mere companions of the ball on its way to the ropes.
De Villiers could be slightly more engaging to watch as the South African right-hander comes up with breathtaking innovative shots now and then. He showed his special skills when he sliced Ashish Nehra over backward point for a six on a bent knee – the shot a wonderful example of his ability to manufacture a stroke out of nowhere.
At the other end, Kohli, who made a superb fifty, didn’t rely too much on innovativeness on the night, but then he was hardly faced with the need to do anything garish.
The Delhi lad has an amazing array of strokes at his disposal, and even more amazing amount of time to play them. Yadav slipped in a scorching bouncer that caught Kohli in an awkward position, but still he managed to pull that away, giving no chance to the square leg fielder to block it.
But it wasn’t that the Daredevils were completely absent from the frame. Openers – David Warner and Virender Sehwag – spurred the Delhiites to 43 in little over five overs, playing a few crisp shots.
However, R Vinay Kumar managed to produce a moment of absolute magic while latching on to a full-blooded shot from Warner off his own bowling. Even the arrival of skipper Mahela Jayawardene didn’t provide the steam to their innings as Delhi meandered along like a dying river.
Scoreboard
DELHI DAREDEVILS: David Warner c&b Vinay 15 (13b, 3x4), Virender Sehwag c Kohli b McDonald 25 (23b, 4x4), Manpreet Juneja c Vinay b Unadkat 17 (16b, 2x4), Mahela Jayawardene (run out) 28 (31b, 2x4), Ben Roherer c Kohli b Unadkat 14 (14b, 2x4), Kedar Jadhav (not out) 29 (16b, 2x4, 1x6), Irfan Pathan (not out) 19 (8b, 2x4, 1x6). Extras (LB-1, NB-1, W-3) 5. Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs) 152.
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Warner), 2-43 (Sehwag), 3-73 (Juneja), 4-91 (Roherer), 5-122 (Jayawardene).
Bowling: Ravi Rampaul 4-1-28-0 (nb-1), RP Singh 4-0-48-0 (w-1), Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-24-2 (w-2), R Vinay Kumar 4-0-21-1, Andrew McDonald 2-0-17-1, Syed Mohammad 2-0-13-0.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 43/1.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Chris Gayle c Yadav b Morkel 13 (9b, 2x6), KL Rahul c Jayawardene b Nehra 12 (12b, 24), Virat Kohli c Jayawardene b Yadav 65 (50b, 7x4, 1x6), AB de Villiers (run out) 39 (32b, 3x4, 1x6), Andrew McDonald c&b Nadeem 0 (2b), KB Arun Karthik (run out) 5 (5b), Syed Mohammad c Warner b Yadav 1 (2b), Vinay Kumar (not out) 1 (1b), Ravi Rampaul (not out) 12 (7b, 1x6). Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-2) 4. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 152.
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Rahul), 2-26 (Gayle), 3-129 (De Villiers), 4-129 (McDonald), 5-136 (Arun), 6-138 (Mohamamd), 7-138 (Kohli).
Bowling: Ashish Nehra 4-0-31-1 (w-1), Morne Morkel 4-0-32-1 (w-1), Irfan Pathan 4-0-39-0, Umesh Yadav 4-0-22-2, Shabaz Nadeem 4-0-26-1.
Power Play: 1-6: 48/2.
Super Over: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 15/0 (1, 1, 1, 0, 6, 6) bt Delhi Daredevils: 11/2 (w, 4, 0, 6, 1, w).
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