Bengaluru: The weather was grey with rain delaying the match by an hour and 10 minutes. The men in dazzling red were expected to supply the colour on the field. There was a splatter, but never enough to justify the power the men in red and gold possess. This was until the 15th over. The arrival of Yuvraj Singh, currently in a red-hot form changed it all.
At the time of this edition going to bed, Delhi Daredevils were on 97 for the loss of three wickets in 12 overs.
Riding on the second successive hit parade by Yuvraj, Royal Challengers Bangalore posted a competitive 186/4 against Delhi Daredevils. Yuvraj’s sublime show of batting which was unconquered after 41 minutes produced 68 runs off 29 balls with nine maximums and a lone boundary.
At the M. Chinnaswamy stadium here on Tuesday, the 33-year-old southpaw produced a paisa vasool performance for the near-capacity crowd, whose spirit was hardly dented by the showers earlier in the evening.
Having put the Challengers to bat, Kevin Pietersen’s men did well to stifle the hosts initially.
The first 10 overs produced 60, but such was the prowess of Yuvraj, that the Delhi bowlers went for 78 runs in the last five. The Punjab talent hit a six into every corner of the small park and made the visiting bowlers, especially Imran Tahir and Rahul Shukla look like went-under-the-ears net bowlers. Tahir was the first to be treated to a Yuvi special in the 17th over with three sixes being dispatched to the deep square leg, deep cover and the sight screen in succession.
Earlier, Chris Gayle’s routine struggle to connect, this season continued. After offering some hope with two sixes and a boundary, it was all bluff again as Gayle perished trying to swing his bat at a Shukla delivery.
The ball didn’t connect and instead caught the edge, which sent the off stump flying.
Skipper Kohli who opened in the previous encounter, chose to drop down again, but that only plunged his woes deeper. The dashing talent’s poor run with the blade has far from ended.
Scoreboard
Royal Challengers Bangalore: C. Gayle b Shukla 22, P. Patel c Karthik b Mohammed Shami 29, V. Kohli (run out) Shukla 10, AB de Villiers b Kaul 33, Yuvraj Singh (not out) 68, S .Rana (not out) 15. Extras (lb-4, w-3, nb-2) 9. Total (for four wickets in 20 overs).
FoW: 1-33, 2-45, 3-94, 4-107.
Bowling: J. Duminy 4-0-25-0, Mohammed Shami 4-0-31-1, S Kaul 4-0-37-1, R. Shukla 4-0-41-1, Imran Tahir 4-0-48-0.
