Gambhir inspires Daredevils

Gambhir: Delhi delight

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• Glenn McGrath
• Gautam Gambhir

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Gautam Gambhir blasted 86 off 54 balls and Glenn McGrath took 4-29 as the Delhi Daredevils moved into second place in the Indian Premier League with a 10 run win against Bangalore Royal Challengers.

The defeat for Bangalore leaves Rahul Dravid and his troops stranded at the bottom of the table as qualification for the next stage becomes increasingly unlikely.

Left-handed duo Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan (50) helped set the hosts an imposing 191-5 before Antipodean rivals Glenn McGrath (4-29) and Daniel Vettori (1-19) restricted the visitors with the ball.

The Daredevils flew out of the traps as Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (24) blitzed 53 from the opening five overs before their onslaught was ended by a superb direct hit from the arm of Ross Taylor to remove the Delhi skipper.

Spectacular

Dhawan joined Gambhir and the pair quickly set about building what turned out to be a match-winning 98 partnership.

Heavy-hitting to all parts of the ground ensued before Dravid took a spectacular catch to dismiss Dhawan for a 33-ball 50.

Gambhir continued to find the boundary with regularity and when he coupled his dominance with a few choice words for Kallis, it took Dravid to intervene and quell a potential flashpoint.

The India batsman eventually fell when he mistimed a pull shot to Praveen Kumar at deep midwicket in the penultimate over from Zaheer Khan, but the damage had already been done.

Kallis fightback

South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis (54) top scored for the Royal Challengers but he was unable to finish the reply with a flourish to secure a much-needed victory.

McGrath had taken three wickets inside the opening five overs as Bangalore slumped to 48-3, however, Kallis and Dravid combined in an 87-run stand to reignite hopes of a dramatic chase.

But their stand was broken when McGrath struck again as Dravid skied a catch to Sehwag in the covers. With the Royal Challengers still needing 56 from 27 balls Mark Boucher and compatriot Kallis rallied to leave Bangalore requiring 35 runs from the final 12 deliveries.

A metronomic penultimate over from Vettori frustrated their attempts as he conceded just five singles before bowling Kallis with his final delivery.

Boucher hit the first ball of Sehwag's final over for six, but consecutive singles followed to end Bangalore's hopes of victory.

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