Delhi Make Headway, Tame Bangalore Again

In the first leg of IPL when Daredevils were on losing streak they beat Bangalore and got the winning momentum back and in second leg they again crushed the mighty opponents and now with 4 consecutive wins are handshaking distance away from semi final birth. With dangerous Sehwag, Gambhir and Warner in good nick top order was never a concern for Delhi but Collingwood’s inclusion in playing eleven has strengthen their middle order. And he came good last night with his splendid knock of 75 of 46 balls (3×4, 7×6) which ensured that Delhi post an imposing total on board. The balanced bowling attack and brilliant on field performance made sure that they restrict explosive Bangalore batting from securing a win.

Before Collingwood burst, Sehwag (35 in 22) and Warner (33 in 22) provided Delhi a solid platform. Delhi was on 52-2 in 5.4 overs when Collingwood arrived at crease. Collingwood was hitting ball cleanly and he was involved in three partnerships of 31, 34 and 50 with Warner, Jadhav and Vettori repectively. Bangalore bowling attack looked frail as they dropped Dale Styen to make room for Ross Talyor in starring 11 and surprisingly picked Appanna and Abhimanyu Mithun ahead of Praveen Kumar and Manish Pandey. And in my opinion by making those changes Bangalore lost the winning combination.

Bangalore started their chase with in-form Kallis and White. After early scalp of White, Delhi bowlers kept Kallis and explosive Pietersen under check even in power play overs. In the 10^th over Delhi got prize wicket of Pietersen and Bangalore were 56-2 at the end of 10^th over. From there onwards they needed 129 runs in 60 balls. Kallis was finding it difficult to score runs freely. Tight spells from Mishra, Bhatia and Sangwan made life difficult for Kallis and company. With required run climbing over 13; Bangalore started losing wickets regularly and in the end lost the match by 37 runs.

Kallis scored yet another 50 and continues to hold orange cap but this strike rate of 130 when the required strike rate was more than 150 made it more difficult for other batsmen. Ross Taylor tried his hand with 22 from 10 balls but the task was too huge even for him. Delhi boasted with inclusion of Vettori; once again delivered goods with tight bowling and athletic fielding. Mishra and Sangwan bowled brilliantly for 3-32 and 3-22 from their quota of 4 overs repectively.  Mishra now holds purple cap with 14 wickets from 9 matches.

With win over Bangalore, Delhi jumped to number 2 in points tally. Daredevils have now found a winning combination and they need just 2 more wins from 5 games to secure their place in semis.

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