Tillakaratne Dilshan struck a match-winning unbeaten 67 to help Delhi Daredevils beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets and register its third consecutive victory in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Dilshan’s 47-ball knock, studded with five boundaries and two sixes, took Daredevils home after some initial hiccups.
Earlier, skipper Kevin Pietersen and Mark Boucher helped Royal Challengers Bangalore post a modest 149 for seven after opting to bat.
Chasing 150 for victory, Daredevils again lost skipper Virender Sehwag (7) early after he pull off Pankaj Singh to give an easy catch to Pietersen at mid-on in the second over.
In walked the determined Dilshan. He hit R. Vinay Kumar for a four in the third over and then struck a cheeky six over the ’keeper’s head off Pankaj in the next over.
Dilshan, however, got a reprieve on 18 when Pankaj grounded a difficult chance off his own bowling in the sixth over. The bowler made amends a ball later by having Gambhir (16) caught behind.
Dilshan and AB de Villiers, who had scored a century in the previous game against Chennai Super Kings, found the going tough against the spin duo of Anil Kumble and young left-armer K.P. Appanna. The duo kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos. It was Appanna who broke their 42-run stand, beating de Villiers with a gem of a delivery that turned viciously.
Needing 61 off 36 deliveries, Dinesh Karthik (12) began with a six off Kallis but perished soon.
Dilshan, however, was in no mood to give up as he hit Kallis for a huge six over mid-wicket and then some sloppy fielding in the deep gave Mithun Manhas two easy boundaries as 19 runs came from the 17th over bowled by the South African.
Royal Challengers lost its grip on the match in the last four overs due to some poor fielding.
Needing 15 from the last two overs, Pietersen called back his best bowler Pankaj, but the move had hardly any affect on Dilshan as he hit the pacer for a boundary off the very first ball and Daredevils scored 12 off the penultimate over.
The Delhi team reached its target with four balls to spare, Manhas hitting the winning run.
