DARE DEVILS GET A DOZEN OF POINTS...

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Daredevils get to a dozen points
20th May 2008


The Bangalore Royal Challengers took on the Delhi Daredevils at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore in Match 43 of the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday. Prior to this match, the Bangalore Royal Challengers had lost four successive matches, and that had effectively put to rest any chances they had of qualifying for the semi-finals. Statistical probabilities apart!

The Delhi Daredevils, on the other hand, were unlucky to lose their last rain-affected match against the Kings XI Punjab, and were lying at the fifth position, two points short of the number four team, Mumbai Indians, having played one extra match.

The city of Bangalore had experienced a few showers before the match began, but the match was deemed to start at the stipulated time. The pitch was supposed to be a dual-natured one, with some of the deliveries expected to keep low and not come onto the bat.

Virender Sehwag won the toss and elected to field first, for more reasons than one. The rain would have ensured a little dampness on the pitch and help the bowlers to begin with, before the pitch eased out. Rahul Dravid had a wry smile on his face at the toss talking about being a party pooper for some of the teams now, given that they had no chances to get to the semi-finals.

For Delhi, Amit Mishra was surprisingly left out of the team, in place of Yo Mahesh, where as Shoaib Malik's good catching in the previous match was ignored for AB de Villiers' solid batting. The Bangalore Royal Challengers, not to be left behind, made some of their own - Dale Steyn, Shreevats Goswami, B Akhil and Bharat Chipli making it to the playing XI.

One of the many problems that Rahul Dravid has faced in the tournament so far has been their opening partnership which had seen seven different partnerships thus far. Tonight, it was the turn of Bharat Chipli to partner Jacques Kallis and face the music. And music it was - at least from one end - as Glenn McGrath conceded only three runs off his first 2 overs, before getting Bharat Chipli in his third. This was after Chipli had been given not-out to what McGrath perceived to be a clear-as-crystal nick to the wicketkeeper. Pradeep Sangwan, member of the World Cup-winning Under-19 squad, went for 19 off his first over, and that constituted most of the score of 35/1 in five overs.

Kallis was looking in a reasonable touch, before he edged one off the bowling of Farveez Maharoof to the wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik who picked up an acrobatic catch. Rahul Dravid promoted himself to the number four position, but it was debutant Shreevats Goswami who stole the thunder, scoring 18 runs off Pradeep Sangwan's comeback over, making his analysis look pedestrian. Maharoof bowled a couple of McGrathesque overs, conceding only 5 off the two and picking up a wicket, as Bangalore reached 70/2 in ten overs.

It was the introduction of part-time off-spinner Tillakaratne Dilshan that got through the in-form Rahul Dravid's defences; the captain departing for just nine. However, at the other end, Shreevats Goswami kept nibbling away at the score, flicking and nudging his score up to a well-made 50 off 39 deliveries, making him the youngest to score a fifty in the IPL. With only five overs to go, and a light drizzle having freshened up the pitch, the batsmen found the going a little difficult. Shreevats finally got out trying to step up the scoring and Cameron White ran himself out going for a non-existent run as the Challengers limped to 105/5 in 16 overs. For some reason, Sehwag then decided to get Sangwan into the attack, and was immediately hit for 14 runs, his three overs costing him a whopping 51 runs.

If Maharoof bowled an excellent 18th over, conceding only 5 runs, McGrath went one better, getting rid of Praveen Kumar, and in turn giving away only 6! The much vaunted acceleration never came about till as late as the final over, which went for 24 runs off Rajat Bhatia. A tactical mistake by Sehwag to bowl Bhatia in the last over, instead of a more experienced bowler enabling Challengers to get to 154/7 in 20 overs. Both McGrath and Maharoof scalped two each, conceding a miserly 15 and 13 runs respectively.

A target of 155 was never going to be too stiff for the Delhi Daredevils unless the Royal Challengers picked up some early wickets. Instead, Gautam Gambhir showed us why he is the holder of the Orange Cap currently, in the company of his skipper Virender Sehwag as they both took Dale Steyn and Zaheer Khan to the cleaners. Delhi reached 45/0 in 4 overs! Dravid toyed around with the bowling and brought in Praveen Kumar, but he was only greeted with a boundary. And another boundary. And another one! Kallis gave away 11 in his first as well, as the Daredevils raced away to 71/0 in six overs.

Sehwag took another nineteen off Praveen Kumar before he perished in the same over (47 off 19 balls), and then Gambhir unnecessarily ran himself out for 39 - in turn getting himself to 500 runs in the tournament. The 100 came in the 9th over, as the Daredevils ended over number 10 at 105/2!

It was this fall of wickets and the introduction of Anil Kumble and B Akhil that pegged back the scoring, and this frustrated the Delhi batsmen into playing some attacking strokes, bringing about their downfall. Dilshan was stumped by Goswami off Kumble, de Villiers went, caught behind, and when Dinesh Karthik looped a catch to Cameron White at short extra cover, the Daredevils were in a spot of trouble. Delhi still needed 22 runs off the last four overs, with five wickets still standing, but any hopes of a close finish were conveniently dashed by Maharoof's hits for a six and a four.

In the end, Delhi won by five wickets with 10 deliveries to spare, but would have been a trifle upset at not having won it more emphatically. That would have improved their net run rate. With this win, both Delhi Daredevils and Mumbai Indians are tied at 12 points apiece, with Mumbai having played two matches lesser. The Player of the Match award went to Shreevats Goswami for his solid 52, and excellent work behind the stumps.