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AB powers Bangalore to win

Bangalore - AB de Villiers hit an unbeaten 64 off 42 balls to help Royal Challengers Bangalore beat his former side Delhi Daredevils by 20 runs in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.

The South African batsman smashed six fours and two sixes to lift the score to 157-8 in 20 overs after Australian opener Andrew McDonald had produced a brisk knock of 30 off 19 deliveries.

Veteran Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan then grabbed 3-25 in his maiden match for Bangalore as the Delhi batsmen wasted good starts and could only manage 137-7 in reply.

The Bangalore innings was revived by De Villiers after a lull that followed the dismissal of McDonald, who smashed four fours and two sixes.

The home side, without star West Indian batsman Chris Gayle because of a lingering groin injury, was struggling at 59-4 in the ninth over. But De Villiers batted himself in with singles and twos before the onslaught.

He hit seam bowler Irfan Pathan for a six and a four off successive balls in the 19th over of the innings with superbly executed reverse sweeps off full tosses.

For Delhi, pace bowlers Morne Morkel of South Africa and Doug Bracewell of New Zealand shared five wickets that had put the pressure on Bangalore before De Villiers changed the course of the innings.

The Delhi team got off to a flying start as Australian batsman Aaron Finch produced three consecutive fours through the offside off pace bowler Zaheer Khan but captain Virender Sehwag was out for a first-ball duck in the same over.

Finch (25) and Naman Ojha (33) added 42 runs for the second wicket before both were dismissed by Muralitharan and Delhi faced an uphill task by the time Pathan (24) came in at number seven.

This was Bangalore's first game of the season, while Delhi had beaten Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in its first outing.

Scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 157-8 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 64 not out, Andrew McDonald 30; Doug Bracewall 3-32, Morne Morkel 2-30) def.

Delhi Daredevils 137-7 in 20 overs (Naman Ojha 33, Aaron Finch 25, Irfan Pathan 24; Muttiah Muralitharan 3-25).

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