Delhi dump Bangalore
Bangalore Royal Challengers are out of contention for a spot in the semifinals of the Indian Premier League following a five-wicket defeat at the hands of the Delhi Daredevils at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Monday.
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag's 90-run opening stand took the game away from Bangalore. Their pace was furious and their shots full-blooded as they careened towards the target. Though Delhi suffered a few scares after the openers fell, as Bangalore bowled intelligently and fielded accurately, they recovered in time to boost their semifinal hopes.
A classy bowling effort from Delhi prevented the Bangalore from setting a more competitive total than 154. Shreevats Goswami played an entertaining debut innings and was chiefly responsible for Bangalore's total that was boosted by Misbahul Haq taking 24 runs in final over.
Among the first four batsmen to be dismissed, only Goswami fell while going for the runs. The rest were wickets set up by the bowlers. Glenn McGrath, who conceded only nine runs in his first spell, was visibly irritated after opener Bharat Chipli was not given out to an apparent edge when he was on two.
In his next over, McGrath first had him play and miss outside off, then bowled a short one that Chipli half-wanted to hook, followed it with a back-of-length delivery that he cut to point and finally served up another short one that Chipli pulled and edged to Rajat Bhatia, who ran backwards and caught the ball after falling and nearly going head over heels.
Jacques Kallis, the eighth opener Bangalore have tried so far, was caught behind off Farveez Maharoof's first ball - full and wide. Rahul Dravid soon followed, bowled off a quicker delivery by off-spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Goswami, like the right-handed Rajasthan opener Swapnil Asnodkar, packs in quite a lot of fireworks in his small frame. He was cramped for room by Maharoof when he got to the crease, but broke loose in the next over by Pradeep Sangwan - pulling him for a six and a four to midwicket and then flicking another four to fine leg. But it was his late cut - which he played against Sangwan and Yo Mahesh - that oozed confidence and aggression. He waited till the last second to cut to third man and Sangwan's figures after two overs read 2-0-37-0. Goswami also tried to disconcert the bowler by either stepping out of the crease or sliding gracefully outside off stump and reached his fifty off 39 balls.
But his wicket, caught trying to pull Maharoof over midwicket, when Bangalore were at 102 in 15.1 overs caused a loss in momentum. They lost Cameron White and B Akhil to run-outs and had added only 28 runs in 23 balls before Misbah's last-over mauling.
Though this is not a must-win game for Delhi to qualify for the semifinals, they will hope to beat the weakest side of the tournament rather than be compelled to win their final two matches against tougher opposition - Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians.
SCORES IN BRIEF
BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS: 154 for 7 in 20 overs (Kallis 25, Chipli 2, Goswami 52, Dravid 9, Misbahul 47 not out, White 1, Akhil 3, Kumar 2, Zaheer 4 not out; McGrath 2-15, Maharoof 2-13, Dilshan 1-3)
DELHI DAREDEVILS: 158 for 5 in 18.2 overs (Gambhir 39, Sehwag 47, De Villiers 21, Dilshan 4, Dhawan 16 not out, Karthik 6, Maharoof 13 not out; Steyn 1-26, Kumar 1-33, Kumble 2-18)
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 5 wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Shreevats Goswami.
Umpires: SJ Davis (Australia) and GA Pratapkumar
Toss: Delhi Daredevils.
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