Kohli, de Villiers propel RCB to 5-wicket victory over DD

A formidable 118-run stand between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers seized victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. The visitors clinched a 5-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in the match number 45 of the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League.here.

A formidable 118-run stand between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers seized victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in Delhi. The visitors clinched a 5-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils in the match number 45 of the 11^th edition of the Indian Premier League.

Chasing 182, Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered early jolts with openers – Parthiv Patel and Moeen Ali departing in the first three overs.

Nepal spinner Sandeep Lamichhane marked his IPL debut in style, trapping Parthiv Patel in the front. Patel could only muster 6 runs off 8 balls. The 17-year-old returned with an impressive 1 for 25 in 4 overs.

Virat Kohli (70) and AB de Villiers (72) joined hands in the middle and batted sensibly with mix of caution and aggression taking RCB closer to victory. Kohli smashed his 35^th IPL fifty before he fell when RCB needed 46 off 40 balls with Pant taking a smart catch behind the stumps.

De Villiers later took the responsibility to guide RCB home and ensured his side remained in hunt of the top-four berth.

With 8 points in 11 matches, Royal Challengers can still make it to the playoff, provided other results go their way.

Earlier, Rishabh Pant continued his destructive form with a 34-ball 61 before Abhishek Sharma impressed on his IPL debut to push Delhi Daredevils to 181 for four against Royal Challengers Bangalore here tonight. 

Sharma, who hammered an unbeaten 46 off 19 balls, was one of three IPL debutants for Delhi today along side Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and South African pacer Junior Dala.

Considering how easily Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down 188 in the previous game, Virat Kohli opted to put the opposition in. 

The RCB skipper started with spin and it got him instant breakthrough with Yuzvendra Chahal castling the talented Prithvi Shaw with a wrong one.

A little later Chahal sent back Jason Roy in a similar fashion as the Englishman failed to read the wrong one off the Indian spinner's hands, leaving Delhi at two for 16 in the third over.

The dangerous duo of Pant and skipper Shreyas Iyer (32 off 35) then got together to resurrect the innings. They shared a 93-run stand with Pant doing bulk of the damage.

Pant, who smashed an epic 63-ball 128 here on Thursday night, pulverised the visitors' attack yet again. The southpaw got going by depositing Mohammed Siraj for successive sixes in the eighth over, one came off a pull over midwicket and the other was a flatter hit over long-off.

Toss

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to field first against Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi

DD XI: P Shaw, J Roy, S Iyer, R Pant, V Shankar, H Patel, A Sharma, A Mishra, S Lamichhane, J Dala, T Boult

RCB XI: P Patel, V Kohli, AB de Villiers, M Singh, M Ali, S Khan, C de Grandhomme, T Southee, U Yadav, M Siraj, Y Chahal

Preview

Struggling to stay in the Play-offs hunt, a below-par Royal Challengers Bangalore will have rise to the occasion when they take on the already-eliminated Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

RCB, who have just three wins from 10 games, have to win their remaining four games to have any chance of making the play-offs. Given their ordinary run so far in the IPL, RCB don't evoke much hope.

Skipper Virat Kohli had minced no words after their last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, saying they were simply not good enough and even questioned the character of his team.

Kohli, the team's leading run-scorer with 396 runs at 49.50, was understandably upset after RCB were unable to chase down a modest 147. The batsmen had also let them down against Chennai Super Kings in the previous game, managing just 127.

The team has always relied heavily on Kohli and AB de Villiers but it is high time the likes of Mandeep Singh, Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum deliver.

All-rounder Washington Sundar has been disappointing so far, taking just four wickets in seven games at an average of 48 and economy rate of 9.60. With the bat too, he has done not much to write home about.

The RCB have done alright with the ball and they would hoping to maintain that at the high-scoring Kotla. Pacers Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Siraj have impressed in parts.

Kohli looked relaxed ahead of the must-win game as he went out for dinner with teammates in his home city. On the field tomorrow, he will be wanting nothing less than 100 percent from his under-performing unit.

They take on Delhi, a squad that is already down and out after losing to Sunrisers yesterday confirming its early exit from the competition. Even a special effort from Rishabh Pant did not prove to enough for the hosts.

Delhi's bowling coach James Hopes and captain Shreyas Iyer insisted that there is a lot to play for. There is a possibility that Delhi management might give an opportunity to Nepal spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and South African pacer Junior Dala, who both are yet  to get a game.

"I think we will be discussing the names of all people in the squad in the next 24 hours. We are out but it is important that we win the remaining three games," said Hopes.

Analysing Delhi's another sorry campaign, Hopes added: "We were just not able to win close games. We threw it away against KXIP the other day. There were other games too which we should have won."

"We had to work with depleted bowling resources (after injury to Kagiso Rabada and Chris Morris) but that is part of the game," he added.

Teams: (From)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Quinton de Kock, Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Tim Southee.

Delhi Daredevils: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Rishabh Pant, Glenn Maxwell, Gautam Gambhir, Jason Roy, Colin Munro, Mohammed Shami, Amit Mishra, Prithvi Shaw, Rahul Tewatia, Vijay Shankar, Harshal Patel, Avesh Khan, Shahbaz Nadeem, Daniel Christian, Jayant Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Trent Boult, Manjot Kalra, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane, Naman Ojha, Sayan Ghosh, Liam Plunkett, Junior Dala.