Challengers grab third spot

Tie against DD abandoned; RCB advance to play-offs after a gap of two seasons

Another of Royal Challengers Bangalore match was drowned in heavy summer shower.

Rain and Royal Challengers have been unwilling allies this IPL season and for the fifth time their match was hit by heavy downpour and for the second time the proceedings had to be abandoned without a result. While the capacity crowd left with heavy hearts as it was the last match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium this season, they would be delighted to know that Royal Challengers made it to the play-offs after a gap of three years.

Put into bat first, Delhi Daredevils posted a competitive 187/5 on the back of solid batting by the two South Africans – Quinton de Kock (69, 39b, 9x4, 3x6) and JP Duminy (67 n.o., 43b, 4x4, 3x6). Given the Royal Challengers’ batting fire power, it wasn’t an unattainable target but rain put a pre-mature end to the chase on Sunday. The hosts were two without loss after 1.1 overs when the skies opened up for the first time (at 5.58 pm). After a brief spell the covers came off and the match was scheduled to resume at 7.00 pm.

As has been the case this season, it began to pour again with its full fury just when the play was to restart. Small puddles began to form on the ground and with the cut-off time being 8.07 pm to bowl 3.5 overs to constitute a match, the officials called off the proceedings at 7.35 pm. As a result, the teams shared points which took Royal Challengers’ tally to 16 points at the end of their league phase. RCB will travel to Pune to take on Rajasthan Royals in the Eliminator on May 20 as they will have one win less than Mumbai Indians despite all of them finishing with 16 points. 

Earlier, Daredevils were off to their best start of the season with de Kock and Shreyas Iyer sharing the first 50-run partnership for the opening wicket. The pair added 55 off 38 balls as Daredevils made up for a slow start (eight runs from two overs). De Kock, in particular, was impressive, essaying some clean hits. The acceleration began in the fourth over of the innings when Ashok Dinda was taken for 16 runs. Even the reintroduction of Mitchell Starc, who had been taken off after just one over, didn’t change things as the Aussie paceman leaked 12 runs on his return on an excellent batting surface.

The partnership was finally broken when Iyer’s slice off Harshal Patel was pouched by Gayle at backward point. Iyer’s dismissal linked up de Kock with his skipper Duminy and the two left-handers were involved in another half-century stand (55 off 30 balls) with the latter dominating the association. De Kock first punished David Wiese for 15 runs in an over that cost 18 for RCB. The South African next turned his attention to Dinda, slamming the paceman for two sixes and a four in the 11th over which also went for 18 runs.

With the two left-handers in the middle, Kohli summoned Gayle to bowl his off-spinners but that hardly made any difference. It took Yuzvendra Chahal, who was brought on to bowl the 12th over, to break the partnership when de Kock miscued a hoick and Kohli back-peddled to take the offer. The leg-spinner was, however, taken to the cleaners by Duminy and Yuvraj who picked his leg-spinners with ease and deposited him in to the stands with finesse and power. The visitors lost the momentum when three wickets fell in the space of four runs but Duminy held firm to propel the innings though they appeared short of at least 15 runs given their start and the conditions.    

score board

DELHI DAREDEVILS: Quinton de Kock c Kohli b Chahal 69 (39b, 9x4, 3x6), Shreyas Iyer c Gayle b Harshal 20 (18b, 1x4, 1x6), JP Duminy (not out) 67 (43b, 4x4, 3x6), Yuvraj Singh c Starc b Chahal 11 (7b, 1x6), Kedar Jadhav c Karthik b Harshal 0 (1b), Angelo Mathews (run out) 1 (3b), Saurabh Tiwary (not out) 13 (9b, 1x6). Extras (LB-3, W-3) 6. Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs) 187.

Fall of wickets: 1-55 (Iyer), 2-110 (De Kock), 3-137 (Yuvraj), 4-139 (Jadhav), 5-141 (Mathews).   

Bowling: Mitchell Starc 4-0-35-1 (w-1), Ashok Dinda 3-0-39-0 (w-1), Harshal Patel 4-0-30-2, David Wiese 4-0-39-0, Chris Gayle 2-0-15-0 (w-1), Yuzvendra Chahal 3-0-26-2.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Virat Kohli (not out) 1 (2b), Chris Gayle (not out) 1 (5b). Total (for no loss, 1.1 overs) 2.

Bowling: Jayant Yadav 1-0-2-0; Zaheer Khan 0.1-0-0-0.