Daredevils find Royal Challengers’ pace too hot to handle

Sport360 staff 06:41 27/04/2015
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  • Potent form: Mitchell Starc

    Royal Challengers Bangalore produced a superb display of fast bowling to rout Delhi Daredevils at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Sunday night.

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    Bowling first on a surface that had enough encouragement for the quick bowlers, Bangalore were powered by the searing pace of Mitchell Starc (3-20) and Varun Aaron (2-24) as they bowled the Daredevils out for 95.

    In reply Bangalore openers Chris Gayle (62 off 40 balls) and Virat Kohli (35 off 23) polished off the runs with ease as they sealed a 10-wicket win in 10.3 overs.

    For Bangalore, it was the Starc and Aaron show that set the tone for a commanding win. The visitors struck in the first over as Australia’s 25-year-old Starc fired a trademark inswinger into the pads of Shreyas Iyer and trapped him leg before.

    Captain JP Duminy came in next and alongside opener Mayank Agarwal, tried to survive the pace onslaught as right-arm quick Aaron cranked up his speed to 150kmph.

    But just when Daredevils looked like getting the hang of things, Bangalore struck in quick succession. All-rounder David Wiese first had Duminy caught behind for 13 before Aaron came back to remove Yuvraj Singh (2) and Angelo Mathews (0) in successive deliveries to put the visitors on top.

    Yuvraj tried to push at a good length ball but only managed to nick it behind while Mathews was out fending off a quick one to AB de Villiers at midwicket. The hosts were reeling at 39 for four in the seventh over.

    It soon became 72 for six after left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla had Agarwal (27) stumped and in the next over, Wiese had Nathan Coulter-Nile out lbw.

    From there it was only a matter of time before the innings folded up. Starc came back for his second spell and added two more wickets to his tally as he accounted for Amit Mishra and Shahbaz Nadeem with off-stump yorkers.

    Bangalore hardly put a foot wrong in the chase as openers Gayle and Kohli got down to business straightaway. The West Indian kickstarted the innings by smashing medium pacer Dominic Muthuswami for 14 runs off his first over. 

    Gayle was hardly troubled and soon brought up his fifty by hitting leg spinner Imran Tahir over mid-wicket. Kohli, who scored his first boundary in the seventh over, hit the winning runs – a classical straight drive.

    Kohli, understandably, seemed satisfied after the win and lauded the efforts of Starc and Aaron, who bowled well as a pair.

    “I think we have the right combination now. We wanted to give Varun a chance. He steamed in and got wickets. This is the most balanced combination we are playing,” Kohli said after the match.

    “And the way Mitch (Starc) picks up wickets with his swinging yorkers, it is morale boosting.”

    The other match of the day between Kolkata and Rajasthan was washed out.

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