IPL 2017: Royal Challengers Bangalore edge Delhi Daredevils

Sport360 staff 23:39 08/04/2017
It was a tight match in Bengaluru.

A heroic effort from Rishabh Pant, who was playing the match three days after the death of his father, went in vain as Delhi Daredevils lost their opening match in the Indian Premier League to hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore by 15 runs.

In a match dominated by the bowlers from either sides, Pant made 57 in 36 balls but that wasn’t enough for Delhi to chase the modest target of 158 set by Bangalore.

The Shane Watson-led team struggled to get to terms with the quality bowling attack of Delhi, but it was a superb knock by Kedar Jadhav which helped them reach 157 for eight from their allotted 20 overs. Jadhav contributed a brilliant 69 in just 37 balls.

At Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, which is known to produce massive scores because of its smaller boundaries, that looked like an inadequate total, but the Delhi batsmen struggled against Bangalore’s bowling line-up, led by spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and England fast bowler Tymal Mills.

Despite Pant’s effort, Delhi could only reach 142 for nine.

The victory gave Bangalore their first point in the tournament, having lost their opening match to defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Delhi lost wickets at regular intervals, and their batsmen did not help the cause with some careless shot selections. Pant still managed to keep them in the hunt, needing 37 from the final four overs and 21 from the final two, but Mills and Watson bowled plenty of dot deliveries to Amit Mishra as Pant remained a helpless onlooker at the non-striker’s end.

Billy Stanlake, Iqbal Abdulla, and Pawan Negi took two wickets each for RCB, but it was Chahal (1-19 in his four overs) and Mills (1-33) who looked the most effective.

With Pant on strike for the final over, Watson surprisingly handed the ball to Negi, who delivered for the captain bowling Pant off the legs with his first ball.

Watson said: “My gut feeling went with Negi. Pant had not seen him all night and Negi did it against his old team.

“It was a great win. To get that score, Kedar did really well. We stepped it up from the first game with the ball and in the field, but Kedar was the key and he got the momentum going.”

Opting to bat first, RCB relied completely on Jadhav as Delhi captain Zaheer Khan judiciously used his pace attack comprising himself, Pat Cummins and the impressive Chris Morris.

Jadhav came in with the score at 55-3 in the ninth over and hit five fours and as many sixes in his whirlwind knock. That included a Mishra over in which he hit two fours and two sixes to cream 24 runs.

But apart from Jadhav, none of the batsmen made anything of note, with Watson’s 24 being the next highest.

Once Zaheer ended Jadhav’s innings in the 17th over, RCB could add just 15 runs off the remaining three overs.

A disappointed Zaheer said: “Eight out of 10 times we would have got this total. We just could not get any partnerships going. The wicket was very good for batting.

“It is just the beginning of the tournament. Pant played well, and just needed support at the other end. He showed a lot of courage having undergone personal trauma…we all are with him.”

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