The Royal Challengers Bangalore rode on a brilliantly crafted knock by skipper Virat Kohli to sneak past a spirited Delhi Daredevils by four runs in an IPL-6 match at the Kotla here on Friday. Delhi’s reply (179/7) saw the visitors seal an important win in their quest for the playoffs which put them at par with the Mumbai Indians at 16 points apiece in the points table.
Kohli’s 99 off 58, his last 49 coming from just 14 balls, gave the hosts an imposing target to achieve as RCB finished at 183/4 from their 20 overs. Delhi making a fight of it on a pitch which has been a low scoring strip hinged largely on their star batsman. But yet again, as has been the trend this season, they failed to deliver.
RCB pacer Jaydev Unadkat chose to share the limelight with his skipper, returning an impressive haul of 5/25, including the top three Delhi batsmen. With Mahela Jaywardene, Virender Sehwag and skipper David Warner back in the hut by the seventh over, with 60 on board, the contest was very much in RCB’s grasp.
Youngster Unmukt Chand chose to play out to register his best score of the season (44) but never looked threatening to take his team close to the target. However, Delhi tailenders Irfan Pathan (23 off 11) and Morne Morkel (19 off 10) gave RCB some nervous moments bringing the equation down to 19 off the last six balls, which proved five runs off the target for the hosts.
Earlier, the Daredevils got the kind of start they needed under new skipper David Warner, the first over by Morne Morkel costing them only a single but more importantly, the second one, bringing the end of a dangerous Chris Gayle.
Morkel induced an edge off Kohli’s bat in the next over but the delivery was declared a no ball. Kohli was to get another life in the seventh over, dropped by Virender Sehwag off Siddarth Kaul at short mid-wicket, denying the youngster his second wicket in the match. And he made Delhi pay. Kohli’s partner Cheteshwar Pujara, at the other end, began slowly even escaping a caught behind in the third over, but his urge to force the pace of the game brought his downfall in the fifth over, bowled by Kaul, as RCB finished the powerplay at 40/2. After Pujara’s departure, the Kohli-Moises Henriques combine showed discipline in constructing a partnership and took the total to 74/2 at the halfway stage of the innings.
RCB reached the 100-run mark in 15.1 overs setting the stage for Kohli and AB de Villiers to cut loose. The batsman launched into the Delhi attack with a 17-ball 32.
With Kohli at his fluent best and de Villiers’ innovative strokes taking a toll on the Delhi bowlers, the duo plundered 77 in the last four overs.