New Delhi:
Yuvraj Singh struck form with a brilliant unbeaten half century as Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in their IPL 7 match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Yuvraj smashed 52* runs and shared 84 runs third wicket partnership from just 7.9 overs with captain Virat Kohli who scored 49* runs as RCB chased down the target of 146 in just 16.4 overs.
Yuvi smashed three fours and five sixes in his 29-ball unbeaten knock.
RCB skipper Kohli continued with his top form in T20 though he was dropped twice - on 23 and 24. He hit two fours and three sixes in his 38-ball unconquered innings.
RCB opener Parthiv Patel did well at the top of the innings with a 28-ball 37 which was studded with five fours and a six.
RCB left out Chris Gayle due to a back problem but made a strong start though they lost IPL debutant Nic Maddinson (4), the young opener from Australia, in the second over.
Patel lost his wicket while trying to play shots, too many than required, with leg-spinner Rahul Sharma cleaning him up as RCB were reduced to 62/2 in the ninth over.
Delhi Daredevils found themselves in tatters before Jean-Paul Duminy's brilliant unbeaten half century took them to a decent 145/4 IPL campaign opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Put into bat, the Daredevils were reduced to 35 for four in the eighth over with their top order batsmen coming a cropper before Duminy (67 not out) and Ross Taylor (43 not out) shared 110-runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The duo built the innings by grafting for runs initially before opening up towards the end.
Duminy especially slogged at the death overs as he hit a six off Yuvraj Singh and two maximums off Ashok Dinda.
Coming together at 35 for four, the pair added 96 runs in the second 10 overs after the Daredevils could score just 49 for four at the halfway mark due to the initial jolts. The last five wickets yielded 63 runs with Duminy and Taylor scoring 14, 13 and 17 from the final three overs.
Bangalore spinner Yuzvendra Chahal struck on the very first ball of his debut to claim the wicket of Delhi batsman Murali Vijay. He scored 18 runs off 20 balls and smashed two boundaries including a six before getting bowled in the eighth over.
At start of the match Delhi lost three wickets in quick succession.
First to go was Mayank Agarwal, he scored six runs off 10 balls and was caught by Virat Kohli at square leg off Mitchell Starc in the third over.
Then it was skipper Dinesh Karthik, he was caught behind by Parthiv Patel off Albie Morkel in the fourth over.
In the very next over pacer Varun Aaron scalped Manoj Tiwary. He scored mere one run off three balls before being caught behind off Patel.
At this stage of the game Delhi were struggling at 35/4 in 7.1 overs.
At toss, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl against Delhi Daredevils.
Surprisingly, RCB has left out Chris Gayle and included Nic Maddinson, Mitchell Starc, AB de Villiers and Albie Morkel at the overseas players.
Dinesh Karthik will be leading the Daredevils in place of an unfit Kevin Pietersen. The Delhi outfit has named Ross Taylor, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell and J P Duminy as their four foreign players for today's match.
Teams:
Delhi Daredevils: Dinesh Karthik (capt), Murali Vijay, Mayank Agarwal, JP Duminy, Ross Taylor, Manoj Tiwary, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Sharma, Mohammed Shami.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (capt), Parthiv Patel, Nic Maddinson, Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, Albie Morkel, Sachin Rana, Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron.
(With PTI Inputs)
