Quinton de Kock hammered a pulsating century as Delhi Daredevils downed the Royal Challengers Bangalore in a high-scoring Indian Premier League game here on Sunday.
Set a slightly above-par 192 for victory on another batting beauty at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the Daredevils rode on de Kock’s smashing 108 (51b, 15x4, 3x6) to overhaul the target in 19.1 overs and seven wickets to spare.
The Daredevils’s chase didn’t get off to the best possible start when the dangerous Shreyas Iyer perished in the sixth ball of the innings. The Mumbaiker’s mistimed shot ballooned high up in the air and Shane Watson covered plenty of ground running back from long-on to complete a stunning catch. However, the momentum carried the Australian over the boundary, who chucked the ball back into the field. David Wiese, following Watson, then dived full length on the edge of the boundary, latching onto the ball and remarkably halting himself from the touching the ropes which were just centimetres away.
De Kock, though, appeared hardly flustered and announced his intentions by carting Parvez Rasool for three boundaries in the second over. The South African, one of the most dangerous openers in the world today, hardly took his foot off the pedal as kept dealing only in boundaries.
With the pitch offering hardly any assistance and the Royal Challengers’ attack lacking much bite, the South African kept pulling off one big hit after another to put the hosts under severe pressure. The only respite for Virat Kohli’s men came in the sixth over when Sanju Samson fell to Shane Watson.
Seeing the ball like a football, de Kock didn’t spare any RCB bowler on another warm night. With Karun Nair too teeing off from the other end from the word go, the job got that much easier for the Daredevils who raced to 100 in just 11 overs.
The Royal Challengers’ hopes of making a match out of it perished in the 14th over when Wiese, coming into the match in place of Adam Milne, conceded 20 runs that reduced the equation to just 56 off six overs.
While the result appeared a forgone conclusion at that stage unless Daredevils self-destructed, the focus was on whether de Kock could get the first century of this IPL. The 23-year-old slashed at Wiese’s full length ball, bringing up his ton in just 48 balls, allowing himself a smile and his team-mates plenty of joy.
Earlier, Kohli 79 (48b, 7x4, 3x6) and AB de Villiers 55 (33b, 9x4, 1x6) played gems of an innings to once again rescue after the early dismissal of Chris Gayle. Joining forces as early as in the third ball of their innings, they went on a rampage right from the start, stitching together a 65-ball 107 run second wicket partnership that was the cornerstone of RCB’s challenging total.
While Kohli played second fiddle to de Villiers at the start, he joined the party in quick time as the two kept going great guns. Their efforts though was completely overshadowed by the brutal hitting of de Kock, who justifiably walked away with all the applause.
