Toss Bangalore, chose to field
Delhi Jadhav 29, Jayawardene 28; Yadav 2-22, Nadeem 1-26
Bangalore Kohli 65, De Villiers 39; Unadkat 2-24, McDonald 1-17
Man of the match Virat Kohli (Bangalore)
Two big sixes from AB de Villiers and a special over from Ravi Rampaul, where he picked up the wickets of David Warner and Ben Rohrer, took Royal Challengers Bangalore to a super-over win against Delhi Daredevils at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday.
The win, tougher than many thought it would be against bottom-placed Delhi, took Bangalore to the top of the points table with four wins from six games. Earlier, Virender Sehwag and Warner, the Delhi openers, gave Delhi a decent start, with Warner hitting a 13-ball 15 and Sehwag a 23-ball 25. Vinay Kumar caught and bowled Warner, while Sehwag flicked Andrew McDonald straight to midwicket.
Rampaul was again the standout bowler for Bangalore in the initial overs, conceding only 13 runs from his first three overs. Manprit Juneja (17 from 16), Mahela Jayawardene (28 from 31) and Ben Rohrer (14 from 14), playing his first IPL game, all failed to get going.
Again though, Bangalore death-bowling came back to haunt them. Irfan Pathan (19 from eight) was on song, as was Kedar Jadhav (2 from 16), and sixes and fours flowed in the last two overs – Rampaul conceded 15 in the 19th and RP Singh 15 more in the 20th – as Delhi passed the 150-run mark.
Bangalore's chase of the modest target could have gotten off to a terrible start if the umpire, Vineet Kulkarni, had not ignored a shout for lbw when Ashish Nehra hit KL Rahul's pads with the ball headed for the middle stump. But Rahul did not make use of the reprieve, holing out at midwicket off Nehra for a 12-ball 12. Chris Gayle hit two big sixes and then edged Morne Morkel to Umesh Yadav at third man after a nine-ball 13.
But they still had Virat Kohli and De Villiers to fall back on. The two, sprinkling their stand with boundaries and the occasional hit over the ropes, took the Delhi attack apart.
The two put together 103 runs for the third wicket. De Villiers was eventually run out to a direct hit from Morkel from mid-off after a 32-ball 39.
A great 17th over from Shahbaz Nadeem, where he conceded just one run and had McDonald out caught and bowled for a duck, and the 18th from Morkel, when only six runs were scored and Arun Karthik run out, however, altered the script.
Yadav then had Mohammad caught on the midwicket fence and the result was all but sealed in Delhi's favour when Jayawardene pulled off a tumbling catch at cover to send Kohli back for a 50-ball 65.
Bangalore needed 12 from Pathan's final over, and Rampaul hit a first-ball six over cover. But Pathan kept his cool, giving away only five more runs. But despite a six of his own in the super over, Bangalore would not be denied.
Shamya Dasgupta is senior editor with Wisden India.
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