Adam Gilchrist of Kings XI Punjap acknowledges the crowd after bringing up his fifty in IPL match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, yesterday. Kings XI Punjap registered a seven-wicket win. Gilchrist won the Man-of-the-Match award.
Chennai: Two-time champions Chennai Super Kings had little difficulty getting past the struggling Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni blasted 58 off 35 balls to push Chennai to 168 for four.
In reply, Delhi failed to put up much of a fight, managing only 135 for nine at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Albie Morkel took three wickets for 32 runs.
Chennai have qualified for the play-offs alongside Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, and the home win here puts them at the top of the standings with 22 points.
Delhi, on the other hand, are out of the competition.
The visitors were off to a disastrous start in their run-chase with Virender Sehwag getting caught behind off Mohit Sharma in the second ball of the innings.
Though the wicket looked good for batting, Delhi batsmen were unable to take on the Chennai attack. The result seemed to going one way when they lost half their side for 63 runs.
David Warner, batting in the middle order, ran out of partners once again. His 44 of 37 balls amid hot and humid conditions went in vain.
Earlier, Murali Vijay (31) and Michael Hussey (26) provided Chennai a quick start collecting 61 from the first seven overs.
Hussey was looking in ominous touch once again until he got run out, leaving his team at 69 for two.
Suresh Raina fell cheaply, getting Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja together at the crease.
The dangerous combination smashed 57 runs off 36 balls with Dhoni being the aggressor.
Dhoni, in his usual style, hit four scorching sixes including one that landed on the roof. His victim in this case was young pacer Siddarth Kaul.
Jadeja scored two fours in his 17-ball knock.
In Bangalore, veterans Adam Gilchrist (85 not out, 54b, 10x4, 3x6) and Azhar Mahmood (61, 41b, 8x4, 1x6) rolled back the years as the duo spearheaded a resurgent Kings XI Punjab to a seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a crucial IPL game yesterday.
RCB were riding high after scoring 174 for three, courtesy a 136-run partnership in 14.2 overs between Chris Gayle (77, 53b, 4x4, 6x6) and skipper Virat Kohli (58, 43b, 6x4, 2x6), but 41-year old Gilchrist and Mahmood, 38, made light of the target with a splendid 118-run stand for the second wicket as Kings XI coasted past the target in 18.1 overs.
Seamer Parvinder Awana was the pick of Kings XI bowlers with three for 39 while new ball bowler Mahmood came away with two for 24 and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was restrictive, conceding just 27 runs in his four overs.
The RCB bowlers came in for some punishment while they were also unlucky that a few streaky lofted shots by Gilchrist and Mahmood eluded the fielders by a whisker.
The result anchored RCB to 16 points from 15 games while Kings XI moved up to 12 with two more matches in hand. RCB, playing at home after three weeks and six away games, are slated to play favourites Chennai Super Kings here, May 18.
Kings XI survived the early loss of Shaun Marsh (8) who was bowled by Zaheer Khan, playing his first IPL game this season. From then on, it was a Gilchrist-Mahmood show with the experienced pair playing some clever cricket to ward off the RCB attack.
Both Mahmood and Gilchrist batted quite beautifully, timing their shots to a nicety in sharp contrast to Gayle’s brutal hitting earlier in the day.
With the pair gaining in confidence and stature, Kings XI inched their way towards victory and even the loss of Mahmood and David Miller (2) in quick success in the latter part of the innings did not deter the visitors from posting their sixth win in 14 matches.
The RCB innings had a sedate start despite some boundaries in the early overs by Cheteshwar Pujara who, however, was first of Awana’s three victims, caught brilliantly by Miller at point.
IANS
