Delhi too good for Bangalore

Glenn McGrath

The Delhi Daredevils moved into second place in the Indian Premier League following a 10-run win against bottom-of-the-table Bangalore Royal Challengers.

Left-handeder Gautam Gambhir (86) and Shikhar Dhawan (50) guided the hosts to an imposing 191 for five before some tight bowling from Glenn McGrath (4-29) and Daniel Vettori (1-19) kept the visitors in check.

Jacques Kallis (54) top-scored for the Royal Challengers but he was unable to provide the late hitting required to secure victory.

After McGrath had taken three wickets inside the opening five overs to leave the visitors 48 for three, Kallis and Dravid shared an 87-run stand that relied on controlled aggression.

Their stand was broken when McGrath struck again as Dravid skied a catch to Sehwag in the covers with his team needing 56 from 27 balls.

Kallis and Boucher got the target down to 35 runs from the final two overs, although Vettori would frustrate their attempts as he conceded just five singles before bowling Kallis with his final delivery.

Boucher hit the first ball of Virender Sehwag’s final over for six, but consecutive singles followed to end the Royal Challengers’ hopes of victory.

Earlier, Gambhir and Sehwag took 53 from the opening five overs before their early onslaught was brought to an end by a brilliant piece of fielding by Ross Taylor, who threw down the stumps from point leaving Sehwag (24 off 12) well short of his ground.

Shikhar Dhawan joined Gambhir at the crease and the left-handed duo set about building a 98-run partnership with some heavy hitting.

The pair combined to take 18 from the 14th over, bowled by 37-year-old spinner Sunil Joshi, with both batsman clearing the boundary.

Dhawan sent another ball into the stands in the next over from Kallis, but the South African earned some revenge when Dravid completed a spectacular catch to dismiss him for 50 off 33 balls.

Gambhir continued to find the boundary with regularity and when he coupled his dominance with a few choice words for Kallis, it took Dravid to intervene and avoid a potential flashpoint.

Gambhir fell soon after when he mistimed a pull to Praveen Kumar at deep midwicket in the penultimate over from Zaheer Khan, but his innings would prove a match-winning one.