De Kock's 60 pulls Delhi to 138/8
Raipur, May 22 (IANS) South African opener Quinton de Kock's matured 60-run knock helped Delhi Dardevils post 138/8 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in a must-win encounter for both sides in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday.
Fellow South African Chris Morris (27 not out) was the next most successful batsman for Delhi. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal claimed 3/32 off his four overs. West Indian Chris Gayle chipped in with 2/11 in two overs.
RCB captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to chase at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Sent in, Delhi lost Rishabh Pant (1) in the second over with the score at 11.
Pant tried to punch on the up a delivery from pacer Sreenath Aravind, but the ball held its line and flicked the outside edge of Pant's bat to be caught behind.
De Kock together with No.3 batsman Karun Nair then put up a brief partnership.
But Nair (11) was dismissed after getting a promising start, superbly caught by Kohli off leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. Nair played a booming drive to a flighted delivery. But Kohli completed a catch after sprinting a fair distance to reduce Delhi to 42/2 in the sixth over.
Sanju Samson (17) was the next man in and he too promised a lot. Hitting a six and a four to get settled only to lose his wicket in the 10th over with his team at 71/3.
They were in more trouble when Sam Billings (4) went cheaply. Chris Gayle took a sharp catch of the bowling of pacer Chris Jordan.
Losing wickets after building small partnerships was hurting Delhi's cause though de Kock held firm. But at 81/4 in 11.2 overs, Delhi needed someone beside de Kock who brought up his fifty in the 14th over with a single.
That didnt happen. Instead, Delhi slipped further losing Pawan Negi (6) and Carlos Brathwaite (1) in the 15th over by Chris Gayle.
To make matters worse, de Kock went back in the next over, bowled by Jordan after hitting five fours and a six during his 52-ball knock.
That deprived Delhi of a strong finish to their innings, though Morris provided some lusty blows.
RCB replaced left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah with pacer Varun Aaron.
Delhi made two changes, bringing in batsman Sam Billings and all-rounder Chris Morris in place of Jean-Paul Duminy and Nathan Coulter-Nile, respectively.
--IANS
sam/dg