Match 17: Delhi Daredevils beat Bangalore Royal Challengers!

In a close finish, Delhi beat Bangalore by 10 runs. This is the 3rd consecutive loss to Bangalore. They are now in badly need of a vicotry after their loss to Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings. They have only one win in the table against Mumbai Indians.

Put into bat, Delhi started the innings well. They are one of the sides with a very good opening pair. Both the players are regular openers and they have opened for India.

Gambhir and Shewag added 53 for the first wicket before Shewag was out for 24. He normally starts well but is not capitalizing on it and converting it to a big score.

Gambhir hit 3 continuous fours of Zaheer Khan in the 2nd over and that provided lot of confidence to Delhi. He hit two more fours of Steyn in the next over. Shewag blasted Zaheer Khan a six and two fours in the firt three deliveries of the 4th over. Last ball of the fifth over was the break through over for Bangalore in the form of run out. Playing to point and started well, Shewag also responded, but direct hit by Ross found him well short of his crease, not even referred to TV umpire.

Gambhir was playing his usual T20 innings with more than run-a-ball-innings. Dhawan who joined Gambhir scored a useful 50. When your top order scores, you need not worry. He hit 3 huge sixes--2 off Kallis and one of Sunil Joshi. The 13th over bowled by Joshi costed 19 runs with Dhawan scoring a six and Gambhir contributing with a six and a four.

End of 14 overs, Delhi was almost scoring 10 runs per over. They were 138 for 1. Kallis provided the break through, though he went for a six and four. Dravid took a stunning catch at mid wicket, but the usual celebrations were not there

At the end of 15 overs, Delhi were 151 for 2, going strong with just above 10 runs per over. Shoaib didn't stay long, as well as Dinesh Karthik. Kallis uprooted and in fact broke the stumps of Karthik. That is when it dipped a little bit at 178 for 4 in 18 overs.

Gambhir was out in the 19th over for 84. He crossed his 50 of 36 balls with 7 fours. He was caught by Praveen Kumar off Zaheer Khan. His 84 came off 54 balls with 11 fours and a six. At the end of 20th over, Delhi reached 191 for 5, giving a touch chance to Bangalore.

Bangalore never looked like winning this game from the start. McGrath dismissed Praveen Kumar caught at mid wicket in the first over the innings.

Taylor and Jaffer batted well and their job is to make the scoreboard moving without losing the wicket. Taylor hit two hours in the 2nd over and a six of McGrath in the 3rd over and then anotehr 6 in the fourth over bowled by Mohammad Asif. Jaffer hit another six in the same over. That gave confidence to Bangalore, but didn's last long.

McGrath gave two break throughs in his 3rd over which was the 5th of the innings. He went for a 4 in the first ball, but he dismissed Taylor in the 2nd. He was caught by Dhawan while trying to swing over mid wicket. In the last ball, Jaffer mistimed the pull shot of a short ball deliery and was caught by Mahesh at mid-on. Two wickets in one over put Bangalore in the back seat.

Kallis and Dravid have to stay in the crease till the next 10 overs. They did not score even one bounday in two overs. At the end of the 10th over, Bangalore were 83 for 3, requiring 109 in the next 10.

The next four overs Bangalore scored more than 10 runs an over--14, 10, 11, 12, adding 47 reducing the target to 62 off 36 balls.

Good bowling change by Shewag when he brought in Vettori, who conceeded 4 runs in the 15th over. That put pressure on the batsman and McGrath did the rest. He picked Kallis in his last over by giving 6 runs. The next over by Mahesh was a good one for Delhi as he gave away only 4 runs.

With 48 off 18 balls, the task was becoming tougher and tougher. Though two international stars are in the middle, they were not able to have one or two good overs. 18th over added 13 to the board with 2 fours by Kallis.

With 35 requiring in 12 balls, Kallis got out in the last ball bowled by Vettori for 54 off 44 balls with 6 fours and a six. He gave away just 5 runs to make the target 30 in 6 balls.

Captain Shewag picked the ball for Delhi and he went for a six of the first ball. It was an easy catch, but it went through the hands of Bhatia at long on. It toched the fingers but it fell on the boundary rope for a six. 24 off 5, but only singles were scored in the next two balls to make the target 22 off 3.

Boucher scored a six and a four in the next two deliveries, but it was a too late. Last ball required 12 and Boucher scored a single giving victory to Delhi Daredevils.

McGrath was declared man of the match for his wonderful spell of 4-0-29-4, especially picking 2 wickets in the first over.

Match 17
Venue: Delhi
Date: April 30, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils v. Bangalore Royal Challengers
Captains: Virendra Shewag and Rahul Dravid
Toss: Bangalore Royal Challengers and decided to field
Result: Delhi Daredevils won by 10 runs
Man of the Match: Glenn McGrath of Delhi Daredevils (Australia)
Points: Delhi Daredevils-2; Bangalore Royal Challengers-0
Score:
Delhi Daredevils 191 for 5 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 86, V Sehwag 24, S Dhawan 50, Shoaib Malik 6, KD Karthik 2, MK Tiwary 11 not out, R Bhatia 8, Extras 4--lb 2, wide 1, nb 1, DW Steyn 4-0-29-1, Z Khan 4-0-42-1, P Kumar 4-0-24-0, R Vinay Kumar 2-0-25-0, JH Kallis 4-0-39-2, V Kohli 1-0-11-0, SB Joshi 1-0-19-0) beat Bangalore Royal Challengers 181 for 5 in 20 overs (P Kumar 6, W Jaffer 10, LRPL Taylor 29, JH Kallis 54, R Dravid 38, MV Boucher 31 not out, V Kohli 1 not out, Extras 12--b 1, lb 10, nb 1, GD McGrath 4-0-29-4, Mohammad Asif 4-0-42-0, VY Mahesh 4-0-28-0, DL Vettori 4-0-19-1, R Bhatia 1-0-14-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-8-0, V Sehwag 2-0-30-0)