Bruised pride proved to be the perfect base for Royal Challengers Bangalore to spring ahead and defeat Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in an Airtel Champions League second phase match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday night.
The defeat in the League B match knocked out Daredevils as the team stays at zero while Cobras (4 pts) and Bushrangers (4) sailed into the semi-finals. Sadly it was also a Diwali when the lights went out on the Royal Challengers (2) with Cape Cobras’ victory over Victoria Bushrangers earlier in the day, knocking out Kumble’s men out of the competition.
However Ross Taylor’s blistering 65 (38b, 6x4, 4x6) added values to Kumble’s earlier bowling effort (three for 20) while chasing Delhi Daredevils’ 138 for six in 20 overs. Royal Challengers scored 139 for two in 15.1 overs with Rahul Dravid (32 n.o., 26b, 3x4, 1x6) slamming Ashish Nehra for six to finish the match in style.
Manish Pandey retired hurt while Robin Uthappa mistimed a pull off a nagging Dirk Nannes but these blemishes were tided over as Dravid and Taylor shared a 93-run second-wicket partnership off just 58 balls, to put the match beyond Daredevils’ grasp. Taylor dropped on 18 and 32 by Ashish Nehra and Rajat Bhatia respectively, kept sending the red cherry into the stands where his growing fan-following danced with delight. `Man of the match’ Taylor was severe on leg-spinner Amit Mishra and also dented Glenn McGrath’s opening over with three fours as Royal Challengers raced to a victory with Virat Kohli (24 n.o.) also joining the party, that came a bit late but yet was timely for Kumble, who was celebrating his 39th birthday.
Earlier, Daredevils surged on Virender Sehwag’s 47 (29b, 6x4, 1x6), high on power and disdain, but suffered a meltdown once spinners – Kumble and Roelof van der Merwe (one for 20) – tweaked in their bag of tricks. Sehwag swung his arms with abandon, striking Praveen Kumar for three fours in an over. However captain Gautam Gambhir flashed hard at Dale Steyn and Sehwag fell to Merwe as Daredevils hit a speed-breaker at 77 for two in 9.2 overs.
Kumble then trapped Dinesh Karthik on the prod, bagged Tillakaratne Dilshan out on the scoop and scalped Owais Shah besides exhorting his other bowlers to restrict Daredevils to a total that seemed impossible when Sehwag was on song.
The scores
Delhi Daredevils: G. Gambhir c Boucher b Steyn 11, V. Sehwag c Pandey b Merwe 47, T. Dilshan c & b Kumble 20, D. Karthik lbw b Kumble 2, O. Shah c Bhuvneshwar b Kumble 17, M. Tiwary c Pandey b Praveen 11, R. Bhatia (not out) 16. Extras (b-3, lb-5, w-6): 14. Total (for six wickets in 20 overs): 138.
Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-77, 3-81, 4-91, 5-114.
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Steyn 4-0-24-1, Praveen 4-0-35-1, Bhuvneshwar 4-0-31-0, Merwe 4-0-20-1, Kumble 4-0-20-3.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: M. Pandey (retired hurt) 3, R. Uthappa c Mishra b Nannes 9, R. Dravid (not out) 32, R. Taylor b Nannes 65, V. Kohli (not out) 24. Extras (b-6): 6. Total (for two wickets in 15.1
overs): 139.
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-108.
Delhi Daredevils bowling: A. Nehra 3.1-0-23-0, D. Nannes 4-0-19-2, McGrath 2-0-25-0, Mishra 4-0-59-0, Bhatia 2-0-13-0.
