AB de Villiers' unbeaten 90 leads RCB to victory over Delhi Daredevils
Sunday 22 April 2018 11:16, UK
AB de Villiers struck a brilliant unbeaten 90 to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a six-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils with two overs to spare.
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The South African pummelled 10 fours and five sixes in his innings as the hosts chased down 175 in Bengaluru, recording the longest six of the tournament so far as he hit the roof of the stand.
Despite ending on the losing side, Delhi's Trent Boult pulled off a sensational catch in the deep to get rid of RCB captain Virat Kohli, snaffling the ball with his right hand after being wrong-footed before stopping himself from touching the boundary after falling on to his stomach.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant hit an impressive 85 off 48 balls as the visitors recovered from 58-2 from their opening 10 overs to post 174-5 but it proved not to be enough.
Having opted to bowl first, RCB made an early breakthrough as Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir top-edged a short ball from Umesh Yadav straight to Yuzvendra Chalal at square leg before the spinner picked up a wicket of his own, as he set up Jason Roy with two turning legbreaks before knocking over the England opener's leg stump to leave the visitors 23-2.
Third-wicket pair Shreyas Iyer and Pant rebuilt slowly for the Daredevils and Iyer, looking to up the scoring rate, struck Washington Sundar for successive sixes to reach his half-century but fell two balls later as he chased after a wide ball and only succeeded in finding Mohammed Siraj at third man.
After Glenn Maxwell departed for just three, Pant took charge - striking three fours and six maximums in 18 balls - before being caught in final over as Delhi pummelled 71 runs from the last five overs to finish 174-5.
The hosts' response began disastrously, as debutant Manan Vohra was caught off Maxwell for two before a mix-up between Quinton de Kock and Kohli saw the former run-out for 18, leaving RCB 29-2.
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Kohli and De Villiers shared a 63-run third-wicket partnership before the Indian captain was forced to trudge off the field in disbelief as Boult looked to have plucked the ball from thin air on the boundary edge.
However, De Villiers was in full flow and he continued to rain down sixes at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, securing only a second win of the tournament for RCB with consecutive fours to finish 90 off only 39 balls.
