Kohli fashions RCB’s victory

Bangalore, Apr 10: Virat Kohli at his dangerous best is a sight for sore eyes and the meagre crowd that gathered at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Tuesday got a first-hand view of it.

Following the loss of the Jamaican marauder Chris Gayle in the seventh over, the crowd seemed to have lost hope of Royal Challengers Bangalore overhauling Sunrisers Hyderabad’s stiff 162-run target, but as it turned out, they were in for a breathtaking display of batting. RCB skipper Kohli smashed a stunning 93 runs from 47 balls with eleven fours and four sixes to carry the home side to a facile seven-wicket win to avenge their loss a couple of days ago.

Just as the Sunrisers relied on Thisara Perera (40, 24b, 1x4, 4x6) and Cameron White (52, 34b, 3x4, 3x6) to provide them with a defendable score, RCB needed Kohli and AB de Villiers to steady the ship following the loss of Gayle and the aggressive Mayank Agarwal (29).

De Villiers, who replaced Tillakaratne Dilshan, walked in and showed no signs jet-lag but fell after scoring a valuable 15 runs and adding 49 runs for the third wicket.

Kohli, meanwhile, was bracing to take on Hyderabad’s bowlers. In a great zone after scoring his half-century from 32 balls, Kohli was determined to complete the formalities and when the opportunity did spring up, he made the most of it.

RCB needed 45 runs from 30 balls and though it wasn’t a stiff ask, it needed someone to seal the deal, and Kohli stepped up to the plate. Kohli smacked Amit Mishra, who until then was economical, for 21 runs in the 16th over and then went after Perera to earn 16 runs.

Left with eight runs to win from 18 balls, Kohli flicked Ishant Sharma for a four off the very first ball of the 18th over and then caressed the ball to the extra cover boundary to set off on a celebratory run.

This win -- second in three matches -- took RCB to third spot in the points table behind Rajasthan Royals.

Earlier, the Sunrisers, who decided to bat, were scratchy to begin with. They were unable to put away a disciplined RCB bowling unit and when the Hyderabadi batsmen did manage to get some room to make runs, RCB’s fielders were more than able to restrict them with a brilliant display both inside and outside the circle.

Even as the Sunrisers trudged along as if waiting for something to click, RCB got their game on and put more pressure on them. They continued to field efficiently and their bowlers were on the mark as they held them down to 98 for three in 15 overs.

With five overs to go, it looked less likely that the Sunrisers would eventually set RCB with a daunting target, but Perera and White changed all that in minutes.

The duo came together following the loss of Sangakkara with the scoreboard reading 62 for three in 10.2 overs. They were patient at the start of the innings and slowly built up the momentum to set-up a perfect foundation for a late charge.

Once Perera got into his groove by smacking Murali Kartik for a six in the 13th over – the first six of the match, Cameron soon followed. The left-and-right combo went after RCB’s bowlers and took a particular liking for R Vinay Kumar. Vinay, who’s coming off a tough Super Over spell against the same opponents, bowled a brilliant first spell (2-0-13-0) but when he returned, he was put to shade.

He conceded 30 runs from his next two and to add to RCB’s charge-in, Moises Henriques, who was excellent in his first game a couple of days ago, was put away for 19 runs in his only over. In all, RCB leaked 62 runs from the final five overs but Kohli proved up to the task.

Mumbai batter listless Daredevils

Mumbai, April 10(PTI): Dinesh Kaarthik and Rohit Sharma’s blazing half-centuries set the platform for Mumbai Indians to claim a 44-run win over Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.

Deciding to bat, Kaarthick’s 48-ball 86 and Rohit’s unbeaten 50-ball 74 powered Mumbai Indians to an imposing 209 for five before the hosts produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict Delhi Daredevils to 165 for nine in their alloted 20 overs at the Wankhede Stadium.

Australian opener David Warner waged a lonely battle for Delhi with a 37-ball 61 but none of the other batsmen showed intent to grind it out along with him.

The pressure of mounting run rate weighed heavily on the Delhi batsmen as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals.

Defending a challenging target, Mumbai bowlers kept a tight leash over Delhi’s scoring rate to earn their second successive win in the tournament after losing their first match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Mitchell Johnson, Kieron Pollard and Pragyan Ojha picked up two wickets apiece while Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh too accounted for a wicket each for Mumbai.

Tuesday’s result meant that Delhi slumped to their third successive defeat with the absence of key overseas players and an injured Virender Sehwag hurting the team’s chances badly.

Delhi were off to a poor start as opener Unmukt Chand yet again failed to deliver the goods for the visitors and went for a first-ball duck for the second time in this IPL season.

Mumbai skipper Ricky Ponting took a stunning catch one-handed catch, diving full length to his right at extra-cover to dismiss Unmukt off Harbhajan Singh.

Delhi skipper Mahela Jayawardena too fell cheaply as he was caught by wicketkeeper Kaarthick off Mitchell Johnson for three, leaving Delhi stuttering at 13 for two inside three overs.

Even though wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Warner was hardly bothered as he went about his business in style and kept the run rate well in check with his occassional strikes.

The departure of Warner, who scored 61 off 37 balls, however spelt doom for Delhi franchise as they lost three wickets in quick succession before suffering a 44-run loss.