For the second time in three days, the bowlers did the job for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Like it was against Rajasthan Royals on Friday, Delhi Daredevils could not find a way to deal with an inspired team that is showing signs of playing to its potential in the Indian Premier League.
Once the RCB bowlers came good, Chris Gayle gave the Sunday crowd a glimpse of his power-hitting after Delhi’s batsmen disappointed its supporters.
Chasing 96 to win its third match of the season, RCB completed a 10-wicket rout in 10.3 overs with Gayle leading the way with a stroke-filled 62, with four sixes and six hits to the fence.
Virat Kohli provided the finishing touches with two successive boundaries as RCB did one better than its nine-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in its previous outing.
Playing on his home ground, Kohli could do no wrong on this day. From winning the toss to finishing the run-chase, the skipper marshalled his resources well. It was just the kind of victory the team needed as it stayed firmly on the road to recovery after suffering three successive losses.
Bad start
Delhi never recovered from the loss of Shreyas Iyer to Mitchell Starc in the opening over and was bowled out for 95. Delhi’s batting came apart with skipper J-P. Duminy, Yuvraj Singh and Angelo Mathews falling in the space of three runs, spread over eight deliveries.
Though opener Mayank Agarwal laboured to a 34-ball 27 and Kedar Jadhav contributed a 29-ball 33, it did not prove enough.
On a pitch that offered a fair amount of bounce and carry, Starc, Man-of-the-Match Varun Aaron, Harshal Patel and David Wiese took turns to strike.
In addition, the lone spinner Iqbal Abdulla proved the most economical and even bowled a wicket-maiden as RCB exerted relentless pressure.
If Wiese hurt Delhi by getting Duminy to snick one to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik — who eventually contributed to three dismissals — it was Aaron whose twin-blows off successive deliveries truly flattened the host in the seventh over.
Double blow
Aaron, brought back from the opposite end after his first two wayward, wicketless overs produced 21 runs, sent back Yuvraj and Mathews to justify the faith of his skipper.
If Yuvraj failed to read the bounce and his hard flash ended up in a regulation catch for Karthik, Mathews was out first-ball, failing to negotiate the rising ball and offering a simple catch to A.B. de Villiers in front of the square-leg umpire. From this no point, there was no comeback for the hosts.
Even as RCB is riding a triumphant wave, Delhi looks a worried lot. Yuvraj, with 124 runs from seven innings and Mathews, 93 from six outings, have so far proved liabilities.
The over-reliance on Duminy and a spin-oriented attack may be well backfire for Delhi should it stick to the same game-plan in the second half of its campaign.
