New Delhi, April 26 (IANS) An incisive display of pace bowling by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) helped them beat hosts Delhi Daredevils by 10 wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match here at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday.
RCB bowled out the home team for a mere 95 runs in 18.2 overs and then cruised during the run chase in just 10.3 overs to register a comprehensive victory.
With the victory, RCB booked the fourth spot in the standings with six points from six matches, just a rung above Delhi who have played a game more to collect as many points.
The win was made to look even easier than it was by some marauding batting from burly West Indian opener Chris Gayle (62 not out).
He was in his elements from the very beginning, thumping the bowlers to all corners of the park to set up a comfortable run chase.
He was given able support by skipper Virat Kohli (unbeaten 35).
The dashing duo didn’t give any flicker of hope to the Delhi bowlers to make the contest interesting and won with 57 balls to spare.
Earlier, a brilliant bowling performance from RCB helped them skittle out the Delhi Daredevils for a meagre 95 in just 18.2 overs.
It was a good toss to win for Royal Challengers skipper Virat Kohli whose decision to field was backed his bowlers.
Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc was clinical, finishing with superb figures of 4-0-20-3 while fast bowling partner Varun Aaron (2/24) and South African medium pacer David Wiese (2/18) took two wickets each.
Medio Harshal Patel (1/14) and slow left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla (1/17) also chipped in with a wicket each.
So poor was the Daredevils batting that only three batsmen – Mayank Agarwal (27), captain J.P. Duminy (13) and wicketkeeper-batsman Kedar Jadhav (33) – got to double digits as all others failed to build partnerships.
Also, only Jadhav’s strike rate was above 100 percent in his entire team, something rare in Twenty20 cricket. Jadhav’s 29-ball knock included four boundaries.