Even 187 wasn’t enough to push Deccan Chargers’ inexperienced bowling attack to pull off a surprise win against Delhi Daredevils. David Warner filled the vacuum left by Kevin Pietersen with a blistering century – his second in the IPL – in only his second game of the season. With a little help from Naman Ojha, Daredevils butchered their way back to No.1, overhauling the target with 20 balls to spare. Chargers risked fielded a bowling attack without foreign players, the most experienced being Amit Mishra. It was a recipe for a mauling. There was no respite even at the other end as the promising Ojha capitalised on his promotion, hitting five sixes in his 64. The pair overshadowed a similar performance by another Indo-Australian left-right duo earlier in the evening, by Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White.
Daredevils’ response was so swift and intimidating that Virender Sehwag’s early departure was a distant memory. Sehwag tried to make a mockery of the decision to open the bowling with Dhawan by lofting the first ball of the chase to long-off. A similar attempt off the second ball resulted in a top edge that swirled to point as White held a well-judged catch running backwards. It was the only memorable bit of fielding from Chargers. The familiar misfields reflected on another flat performance in the field, completely out of synch with the batting performance. Warner hit two forceful boundaries to take 16 off the opening over and set the tone for the rest of the chase.
Warner proceeded to expose the lack of depth and experience among the bowlers, one that should serve as a lesson for the franchise before the next trading window. TP Sudhindra, back after warming the bench for over a month, gave away 13 off his first over. Ashish Reddy, one of the impressive newcomers this season for Chargers, had his confidence dented with a 20-run opening over. Two consecutive short balls were pounded by Warner over cover and deep square-leg respectively. When he pitched it full, he was spanked through the off side.
Scores: Delhi Daredevils 193 for 1 (Warner 109*, Ojha 64*) beat Deccan Chargers 187 for 4 (Dhawan 84, White 65) by nine wickets
Gayle does it again for
Bangalore: It wasn’t the easiest of pitches to bat on at the Wankhede Stadium, and Mumbai Indians possess the most potent bowling attack in the competition, but none of that mattered to Chris Gayle as he swung sixes on his way to the orange cap, 500 runs in the tournament and an unbeaten 82 that propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore to the fourth spot.
Victories for Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab on Tuesday and Royal Challengers’ win today has tightened the table again, with only three points separating the five teams in the middle.
Mumbai’s batting has rarely been at its best this season, and continued to struggle today. The Royal Challengers bowling has had some off days this year, but turned in one of their more impressive performances as Vinay Kumar’s double-strike in the second over and Muttiah Muralitharan’s two wickets off successive deliveries later in the innings limited Mumbai to 141. With the ball nipping around, it seemed a competitive score, particularly given the strength of Mumbai’s bowling. Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan watchfully played out the main threat, Lasith Malinga, and focussed their energy on scoring plenty off the rest. As he has been all season, Gayle was relatively cautious early on. Mumbai had two gilt-edged chances to dismiss him within the Powerplays: first, in the second over when a direct hit would have caught him well short, and then in the sixth over when Dwayne Smith put down a skier at cover.
Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 142 for 1 (Gayle 82*) beat Mumbai Indians 141 for 6 (Karthik 44) by nine wickets.
