Royal Challengers Bangalore dragged itself into yet another Super Over skirmish in the Pepsi IPL; only this time, the night finished in triumph. At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday, the home side secured a chaotic four-run victory, condemning Delhi Daredevils to a fifth straight loss in the competition.
A.B. de Villiers struck two sixes off Umesh Yadav, whom Delhi entrusted with the responsibility, to help RCB, batting first in the tie-breaker, to 15. In response, the visitors were restricted to 11, Ravi Rampaul removing David Warner off the first ball before bowling Ben Rohrer rather dramatically off the last.
How the home side contrived to take it that far is a mystery. Things had been going swimmingly well in its chase of 153. Virat Kohli had made his third half-century of the competition, a fine 65 (50b, 7x4, 1x6), and in alliance with de Villiers, had added 103 runs for the third wicket.
Inexplicable fumble
But, with the target 23 runs away, 25 balls in hand, RCB stumbled, blindly and inexplicably. Five wickets were lost in the next 17 balls, for the addition of nine runs. Twelve were needed off Pathan’s 20th over, and then two off the last ball. Rampaul and Vinay scrambled a single to level scores. RCB’s pursuit did not begin all that well. K.L. Rahul, in for an injured Mayank Agarwal, had been dismissed for 12. His opening partner Gayle had gone for 13, mowing Morne Morkel over point one ball, edging the same bowler to third man the next. Kohli and de Villiers, however, restored control.
Blow by blow, they took their side nearer the target. It all seemed very simple.
Promising start
Delhi opened on a promising note, David Warner and Virender Sehwag setting off briskly.
But from 42 for no wicket in five, things began to slide: Delhi lost three for 52 in the next 10 overs.
Warner fell in the sixth for 15, Vinay Kumar snaffling a remarkable return catch.
Sehwag left three balls later for 25, spooning Andrew McDonald’s first delivery this season to Kohli.
Stunted, the Delhi innings never entirely recovered. Manprit Juneja, wristy and everything, struck Jaydev Unadkat down long-on’s throat.
Unadkat impresses
Ben Rohrer adopted a similar method of departure, handing Unadkat his second wicket. The left-armer was arguably RCB’s best bowler on the night, Vinay not far behind.
Mahela Jayawardene seemed to hang around a long time for his 28, but he was run out at the non-striker’s end — the ball ricocheting into the stumps off Vinay’s boot — just as things had begun to look up.
Kedar Jadhav and Irfan Pathan, however, ensured that Delhi finished on a high.
The two whacked the ball around, lifting their side to 152.
Delhi had added 30 runs in the last two overs; fifty-eight in the last five.
Scoreboard :
Super Over :
RCB 1-1-1-0-6-6 (15)
DD w-4-0-6-1-w (11)
Delhi Daredevils : David Warner c & b Vinay 15 (13b, 3x4), Virender Sehwag c Kohli b McDonald 25 (23b, 4x4), Manprit Juneja c Vinay b Unadkat 17 (16b, 2x4), Mahela Jayawardene (run out) 28 (31b, 2x4), Ben Rohrer c Kohli b Unadkat 14 (14b, 2x4), Kedar Jadhav (not out) 29 (16b, 2x4, 1x6), Irfan Pathan (not out) 19 (8b, 2x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-1, nb-1, w-3): 5; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 152.
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Warner), 2-43 (Sehwag), 3-73 (Juneja), 4-91 (Rohrer), 5-122 (Jayawardene).
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Rampaul 4-1-28-0, R.P. Singh 4-0-48-0, Unadkat 4-0-24-2, Vinay 4-0-21-1, McDonald 2-0-17-1, Syed 2-0-13-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore : Chris Gayle c Umesh b Morkel 13 (9b, 2x6), K.L. Rahul c Jayawardene b Nehra 12 (12b, 2x4), Virat Kohli c Jayawardene b Umesh 65 (50b, 7x4, 1x6), A.B. de Villiers (run out) 39 (32b, 3x4, 1x6), Andrew McDonald c & b Nadeem 0 (2b), Arun Karthik (run out) 5 (5b), Syed Mohammed c Warner b Umesh 1 (2b), Vinay Kumar (not out) 1 (1b), Ravi Rampaul (not out) 13 (7b, 1x6); Extras (lb-1, w-2): 3; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 152.
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Rahul), 2-26 (Gayle), 3-129 (de Villiers), 4-129 (McDonald), 5-136 (Karthik), 6-138 (Syed), 7-138 (Kohli).
Delhi Daredevils bowling: Nehra 4-0-31-1, Morkel 4-0-32-1, Irfan 4-0-40-0, Umesh 4-0-22-2, Nadeem 4-0-26-1.
Man-of-the-match : V. Kohli.
