Paul Collingwood's unbeaten half-century and Pradeep Sangwan took three wickets to help Delhi Daredevils outplay Royal Challengers Bangalore by 37 runs in the Indian Premier League at the Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi, on Sunday.
Collingwood smashed an unbeaten 75 to lift Delhi Daredevils to 184 for five in their 20 overs. The England batsman lifted the scoring in the final overs, hitting seven sixes and three boundaries in his 46-ball knock.
Left-arm seamer Sangwan then starred with the ball as he took three for 22 in four overs and leg-spinner Amit Mishra took three for 32 to restrict Bangalore to 147 for nine in their 20 overs.
The in-form Jacques Kallis continued his good form with the bat as he made 54 from 42 balls but the rest of the batsmen failed to come to the party.
With this victory, Delhi moved to second in the standings with 12 points from nine games behind Mumbai Indians, who have 14 from the same number of games. Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have now lost four out of nine games, slipped a place to third with ten points in their kitty.
Delhi Daredevils:As has been the trend with a few teams in the IPL recently, Bangalore also started with spin when captain Anil Kumble came on to bowl the first over and he started off well, giving away just two runs.
Virender Sehwag got the innings going with two boundaries in the second over from Vinay Kumar. He showed scant respect for former India team mate Kumble, whom he smashed for back to back boundaries through the covers before stepping out and lifting one over the sightscreen for a huge six.
David Warner continued the trend when he hit a slower delivery from Vinay through the off-side for another four and Sehwag lifted the ball over mid-on for the same result.
Abhimanyu Mithun, playing his first match of IPL 3, was slammed over the covers for a six by Sehwag off the first delivery he bowled in the match. But Mithun had his revenge the next delivery when Sehwag played on to his stumps as he tried to force one through the off-side to fall after a quick knock of 35 from 22 balls, having hit five boundaries and two sixes.
Warner didn't let the momentum slip as he hit a boundary in consecutive overs before Delhi threw away their second wicket. Gautam Gambhir (1) went for a quick single as Warner hit it to the covers but KP Appanna caught the Delhi short of his crease with a direct hit, reducing Delhi to 54 for two after six overs.
Kevin Pietersen bowled a tight first over before Delhi launched a few sixes in the next couple of overs. First, Paul Collingwood danced down the wicket and hit Jacques Kallis for a six over midwicket. In the next over, Warner went after left-arm spinner Appanna as he hit him for back to back sixes over mid-on.
Kumble came back for his second spell and struck with the key wicket of Warner, who was caught by Virat Kohli at long-on, after scoring 33 from 22 balls.
In the very next over, Cameron White gave Bangalore another wicket when he dived full length to his left to send back Dinesh Karthik (6) off left-arm spinner KB Appanna as Delhi were reduced to 92 for four after 11 overs.
With the spinners making an impact, Kumble introduced leg-spinner White into the attack. White has not bowled much for Australian recently and it showed when Collingwood hit for two sixes and a boundary off successive deliveries, in the 12th over.
Part-time wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa came up with a sharp piece of glove work to stump Kedar Jadhav (7) as he walked out his crease trying to play Appanna on the leg side to reduce Delhi to 125 for 5 after 15 overs.
Collingwood tried to lift the scoring rate in the final overs with a six each off Kumble and Vinay in consecutive overs to bring up his half-century, off 38 balls.
The inexperienced Mithun also suffered against Collingwood, who edged one for a boundary through thirdman. However, he made sure he got the middle of the bat when he hit Mithun for two sixes, over long-off and midwicket for 19 runs in the penultimate over.
Collingwood finished unbeaten on a cracking knock of 75 from 46 balls, with the help of three boundaries and seven sixes, to help Delhi post a respectable 184 for five in their 20 overs.
Vettori gave him good support, scoring 19 from 17 balls, as the two batsmen added 60 runs in 33 deliveries for the sixth wicket to lift Delhi in the final overs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:With Manish Pandey rested, Bangalore had a new opening pair in Jacques Kallis and Cameron White.
Kallis once again looked in good touch as he started with back to back boundaries through the off-side off pacer Farveez Maharoof.
Amit Mishra opened the bowling from the other end and he delivered the early wicket Delhi were looking for. Cameron White tried to loft the leg spinner but he only managed to hole it to David Warner at long-off to be dismissed for four from 11 deliveries.
Kevin Pietersen got oft the mark in style when he charged down the wicket to Daniel Vettori and hit him over long-off for a six as Bangalore reached 36 for one after five overs.
Delhi's bowlers managed to tighten the squeeze as Bangalore got only nine runs from three overs without a single boundary to reach 45 for one after eight overs.
Pietersen's struggle finally came to an end when he was bowled by a yorker from Sangwan after scoring 16 from 19 balls.
At the halfway stage, Bangalore reached 56 for two, and faced a mammoth task of having to score 129 from the last ten overs.
The visitors then decided it was time to hit the accelerator as Kallis and Robin Uthappa hit a six each in Vettori's next over. Infact, Kallis was lucky to have got that six when Warner on the long-on fence nearly pulled off an impossible catch but his feet had just brushed the fence.
Warner then dropped a simple opportunity when he put down Kallis (38) who lofted it straight over the bowler Sangwan. But the left-arm pacer got the wicket he deserved when Uthappa tried another big shot but didn't connect it well and was taken by Warner diving forward at long-off for 12 from nine balls.
New batsman Ross Taylor took Mishra to the cleaners in his third over. He slog swept him over midwicket for back to back sixes and ended that over with a straight six to get 20 runs form the 14th over.
But Taylor's innings came to an unfortunate end when he was ruled out leg before wicket for 22 from 10 balls. He tried to sweep medium pacer Rajat Bhatia having taken a big stride but Kiwi umpire Billy Bowden ruled in favour of the bowler.
The big blow for Bangalore came in the next over when Kallis holed out Sangwan to Collingwood at long-off after a steady knock of 54 from 42 balls, with the help of five boundaries and a six.
Sangwan had played a big role in crippling Bangalore's run chase as he took three for 22 in four overs, including the big wickets of Pietersen, Uthappa and Kallis.
The match was now firmly in Delhi's grasp as the visitors needed 66 from the last four overs with five wickets in hand.
Virat Kohli also failed to fire bat, scoring 13 from 11 balls, before he was bowled by Farveez Maharoof attempting a big heave across the line.
Daniel Vettori finished with a wicket when he beat Vinay Kumar (3) in the flight and bowled him for figures of one for 40 in four overs.
Mishra also had a happy ending to his spell with two wickets in his final over and the last over of the innings.
Rahul Dravid made 14 before he skied another high catch to Warner, who did well to hold on in the end. Mishra then castled Mithun's stumps beating him with a googly to bowl him for five.
Bangalore's batting failed to live up to expectations as they finished on a disappointing 147 for nine in their 20 overs to lose by 37 runs.
Delhi thus leapfrogged Bangalore to go second in the table with 12 points from nine games, while Bangalore slipped to third with ten from as many games.
