Collingwood stars in Delhi's victory

Paul Collingwood outshone a glittering batting line-up to give Delhi Daredevils a big total, which their bowlers defended comfortably despite a late assault from Ross Taylor, who tried to sweep Bangalore to victory. Virender Sehwag and David Warner played their cameos, but it was Collingwood who carried Delhi in the later half of their innings.

The first half of the match was a series of punches and counter-punches. Bangalore bounced back from aggressive knocks with wickets, but kept getting pushed back by knocks even more forceful. Sehwag's 22-ball 35 was ended by Abhimanyu Mithun, only for Warner to start hurting Bangalore. A smart catch from Virat Kohli stopped Warner at 33 off 22, only for Collingwood to provide the innings the final, and most important, thrust with an unbeaten 46-ball 75.

After Anil Kumble left out Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar to accommodate Taylor and left-arm spinner KP Appanna, Bangalore's inexperienced attack could have been blown away by Sehwag and Warner. Kumble made sure Delhi didn't run away by bowling a two-run first over, and Mithun responded by removing Sehwag second ball.

Between that, though, Sehwag raised hell, hitting five fours and two sixes, taking Delhi to 35 in 4.2 overs despite that Kumble over. That second six was a demoralising hit off Mithun's first ball in this IPL, but he came right back with one that nipped back at Sehwag. The Bangalore fielders responded, running out Gautam Gambhir, and getting Warner with an overhead catch on the long-on boundary.

Between those wickets, Warner had done some hell-raising himself, hitting three fours and two sixes to take Delhi to 83 in 9.4 overs. The immediate response to that wicket was an elegant straight-drive from Dinesh Karthik, but Bangalore struck again via a blinder from Cameron White at extra cover. This was the lift in fielding standards that the tournament desperately needed.

Collingwood, however, had quietly played himself in by then and reached 14 off 15 courtesy a six-inch back-lift six while charging down to Jacques Kallis' slower ball. And his immediate response to Karthik's dismissal was to raise the back lift a little more and punish White with two sixes and a four in his only over, taking Delhi to 111 after 12.

No real explosion came in the next six overs, mainly because Delhi lost Kedar Jadhav too, but Collingwood kept Delhi going with two sixes - not into the stands, just over the fielders. The first of those hits brought up his fifty, but at 154 after 18 overs Delhi needed a big finish.

Collingwood was up to it again, this time punishing the youngster Mithun's length bowling. These two sixes were massive and 31 came off the last nine balls Collingwood faced. Even though Vinay Kumar finished with a decent last over, 30 runs in the last two overs set up a delicious chase for a line-up boasting Kallis, Kevin Pietersen, Robin Uthappa, Taylor and White.

It proved to be a bit of anti-climax, though. Bangalore opened with White and Kallis but, on a slow pitch, they never could free themselves from Delhi's choke hold after an 11-run first over. Farveez Maharoof, Amit Mishra and Daniel Vettori bowled in the Powerplay, giving them neither the pace nor the room.

White took Mishra level with purple cap holder Muttiah Muralitharan when he holed out to long-off in the fourth over. Mishra would go ahead and claim the purple cap with two tail-end wickets. Maharoof came back to concede just one run in the sixth over, consigning Bangalore to perhaps their worst Powerplay effort, at 38 for 1.

Rajat Bhatia, with his slow leggcutters, and Pradeep Sangwan, with his yorkers, conceded only 13 in the next three overs. One of Sangwan yorkers consumed Pietersen in the 10th over, and Uthappa couldn't quite recreate his fireworks, and holed out to long-on, making it 76 for 3 after 11.5.

While Kallis stroked his way to another fifty, off 38 balls, same as Collingwood, Bangalore were missing an innings that would rattle Delhi. Taylor tried to do that, sweeping Mishra for three sixes in the 14th over, but Bhatia trapped him too far across in the next over.

Kallis' wicket in the over following ended the contest, leaving Kohli and Rahul Dravid 67 to get off 25, and also raised the question if one of those two batsmen, and not Manish Pandey, should have made way for Taylor.

Score Board  :

Delhi Daredevils innings       (20 overs maximum)            R     B     4s      6s        SR      

DA Warner               c Kohli b Kumble                        33    22      3       2     150.00    

V Sehwag                         b Mithun                              35    22      5       2     159.09    

G Gambhir*               run out (Appanna)                         1      1      0       0     100.00    

PD Collingwood             not out                                   75    46       3       7     163.04    

KD Karthik†             c White b Appanna                       6      4        1       0    150.00    

KM Jadhav             run out (†Uthappa)                          7      9        0        0     77.77    

DL Vettori                     not out                                    19    17        2        0    111.76    

   

  Extras                     (b 1, lb 4, w 2, nb 1)                     8                    

  Total                     (5 wickets; 20 overs)                   184        (9.20 runs per over)

Did not bat R Bhatia, A Mishra, MF Maharoof, PJ Sangwan

Fall of wickets1-41 (Sehwag, 4.2 ov), 2-52 (Gambhir, 5.4 ov), 3-83 (Warner, 9.4 ov), 4-90 (Karthik, 10.3 ov), 5-124 (Jadhav, 14.3 ov)

   

Royal Challengers Bangalore innings (target: 185 runs from 20 overs)     R     B    4s     6s     SR

   

JH Kallis               c Collingwood b Sangwan                                       54    42     5      1    128.57    

CL White                 c Warner b Mishra                                                 4    11     0      0     36.36    

KP Pietersen                      b Sangwan                                                 16    19     0      1     84.21    

RV Uthappa†                 c Warner b Sangwan                                      12     9     0       1   133.33    

LRPL Taylor                    lbw b Bhatia                                                 22    10     0      3    220.00    

V Kohli                      b Maharoof                                                        13    11     1      0    118.18    

R Dravid                c Warner b Mishra                                                  14     9     2      0    155.55    

R Vinay Kumar                    b Vettori                                                     3     3     0      0    100.00    

A Mithun                        b Mishra                                                          5     4     1      0    125.00    

A Kumble*                     not out                                                             1     1     0      0    100.00    

KP Appanna                     not out                                                           1     2     0      0     50.00    

   

 Extras                  (lb 1, nb 1)                                                                2                

 Total                    (9 wickets; 20 overs)                                             147     (7.35 runs per over)

Fall of wickets1-25 (White, 3.3 ov), 2-52 (Pietersen, 9.2 ov), 3-76 (Uthappa, 11.5 ov), 4-106 (Taylor, 14.2 ov), 5-118 (Kallis, 15.5 ov), 6-134 (Kohli, 17.4 ov), 7-137 (Vinay Kumar, 18.1 ov), 8-145 (Dravid, 19.2 ov), 9-145 (Mithun, 19.3 ov)