Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by seven wickets to stay in the hunt for a semfinal berth.
Royal Challengers Bangalore took a giant leap towards a semifinal berth beating a rather off-colour Delhi Daredevils here on Tuesday.
Chasing a modest target of 135, the Bangalore side knocked off the winning runs with a lot to spare.
Jacques Kallis brought in all his experience and expertise with an inspired all-round performance as Anil Kumble’s men made a clinical demolition of the Daredevils at the Wanderers. The South African scored a crucial unbeaten 58 in Bangalore’s successful chase after giving away just 17 runs in his four overs. Kallis’s effort was well complimented by Rahul Dravid (38) and Ross Taylor (25). Predictably, Kallis bagged the man-of-the-match award.
With this win, Bangalore, who gained momentum rather late in the tournament, are in with a chance to make the semifinal cut. They, of course, will have to beat a formidable Deccan Chargers on Thursday night in a do-or-die battle for both teams.
Earlier, Virender Sehwag flopped once again as his side struggled to post an impressive total. The Delhi skipper was out off the second ball he faced as the most dreaded opening pair of international cricket - Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir - failed to get going once again. That Sehwag has been below his best in IPL II is an understatement. In nine matches, he has not managed a single fifty.
On Tuesday, he perished to Praveen Kumar, who bowled with a lot of penetration. The Bangalore pacer’s three wickets broke the back of Delhi’s line-up. Their batsmen were rather subdued to say the least. From the first ball, Bangalore bowlers showed tremendous discipline and application.
There were few loose balls for the Delhi batsmen, who managed only eight fours and one six. Delhi were not the Devils there are known to be. In the last 10 overs, there were only two boundaries in the Delhi innings.
The Delhi score would have been much less than the final 134 if not for some quick running by Dinesh Karthik (31), Yogesh Nagar (20) and Farveez Maharoof (18 n.o.) and early burst by Gambhir and AB de Villiers, who scored 27 and 28, respectively.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}