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Sharjah - Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh have combined to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
The supersport.com website reports that Yuvraj blasted his way to 52 not out off a mere 29 balls with three fours and five sixes while Kohli added a dashing 49 not out off 38 deliveries with two fours and three sixes as Bangalore reached 146 for two off just 16.4 overs in reply to Delhi’s 145 for four, which had been based around an unbroken 110-run partnership between JP Duminy and Ross Taylor.
Duminy was the senior partner as he struck a fine 67 not out off 48 balls with four fours and three sixes while Taylor’s role was no less important as he scored 43 not out off 39 deliveries.
However, the match belonged to Yuvraj and Kohli although Kohli did enjoy more than his share of luck as he was dropped twice during a Wayne Parnell over with his score on 23 and 24 respectively.
The match was effectively sealed as a contest when Kohli and Yuvraj plundered 20 runs off the 15th over of the innings, bowled by legspinner Rahul Sharma.
Bangalore, after the early loss of Nic Maddinson (4), made a fine start to their run-chase as they reached 62 for one in the ninth over with Parthiv Patel scoring an impressive 37 off 28 balls with five fours and a six before he walked down the wicket to Sharma and was bowled.
Earlier, the left-handed Duminy, who reached the milestone of 1 000 IPL runs during his knock, brought up his fifty off 44 deliveries which included two superb straight drives for six while his third six came in the final over with a big blow over midwicket.
Duminy and Taylor ensured that Delhi scored an impressive 63 runs off the last five overs of their innings on a two-paced wicket.
Delhi, after being asked to bat, were soon in trouble as they slipped to 17 for three inside four overs after Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Starc had Mayank Agarwal (6) caught at midwicket and Albie Morkel served up a superb delivery that seamed away off the pitch to have Dinesh Karthik (0) caught behind by keeper Patel.
Paceman Varun Aaron was the next bowler to strike when he had Manoj Tiwary (0) caught down the leg-side by Patel before Murali Vijay (18) was bowled by 23-year-old legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Aaron ended with the impressive figures of 3-1-9-1.
Teams:
Delhi Daredevils: M Vijay, MA Agarwal, KD Karthik (captain, wicketkeeper), JP Duminy, LRPL Taylor, MK Tiwary, JDS Neesham, WD Parnell, S Nadeem, R Sharma, Mohammed Shami
Royal Challengers Bangalore: PA Patel (wicketkeeper), NJ Maddinson, V Kohli (captain), Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, JA Morkel, S Rana, AB Dinda, MA Starc, YS Chahal, VR Aaron
