|
McGrath still a bowling force
30/04/2008 21:32 - (SA)
Delhi - Glenn McGrath showed he is still a force to be reckoned with as he bowled the Delhi Daredevils to a ten-run win over the Bangalore Royal Challengers in Delhi on Wednesday.
Bangalore seldom threatened a total of 191 for five after McGrath picked up three wickets in his first three overs as he showed old legends don't die, they just keep coming back for more.
Having dismissed Praveen Kumar (six) in the first over, McGrath had both Ross Taylor, who lived and died by the sword in a swashbuckling 29 off 15 balls, and Wasim Jaffer (ten) caught in the fifth over to leave Bangalore on 48 for three.
Rahul Dravid took it upon himself to turn his team's fortunes around with a daring 38 off 30 balls but McGrath returned in the 16th over to have him caught as well.
That left Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher to score 57 runs off 27 balls.
Kallis went to a sleek 40-ball half-century but never produced the flurry of runs Bangalore really needed and Boucher's bat wagged in the final over as he finished with 31 not out off 17 balls but it was never going to be enough to tear control from Delhi's grasp.
Kallis scored 54 runs off 44 balls before left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori bowled him at the end of the penultimate over, with 30 runs still needed. To date, the $900 000 man has not lived up to his billing in what has generally been a feast of runs.
Kept up the pressure
McGrath finished with four for 29, the best bowling figures in the competition so far, but he was not the only Delhi bowler to shine.
Vettori never allowed the batsmen out of his clutches as he suffocated them with one for 19 in four overs and seamer Yo Mahesh kept up the pressure by bowling four overs for just 28 runs.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir bashed 86 before the Delhi Daredevils lost momentum and scored 191 for five.
The Daredevils just couldn't quite push on through the 200 barrier as Dale Steyn, Kallis and Kumar all bowled well in the final overs.
Gambhir put Delhi in charge from the outset, against a team that have won just once in four matches, and had fine support from Virender Sehwag, who scored a thunderous 24 off 12 balls as the 50 was raised in the fifth over.
Gambhir and young Shikhar Dhawan then added 98 in ten overs and the Royal Challengers seemed clueless as to how to stop the onslaught.
The left-handed Gambhir showed a liking for the left-arm spin of Sunil Joshi as he hammered two sixes and a four off his only over but Dhawan fell for a 33-ball half-century, Dravid scooping up a brilliant low catch at wide mid-on, in the next over, bowled by Kallis.
The volume of runs almost immediately died down and Delhi could only manage 40 in the last five overs.
Shoaib Malik came in and was quickly beaten for pace and bowled by Steyn and Kallis then fired a superb yorker into Dinesh Karthik's stumps.
Gambhir, having scored 86 in 54 balls, eventually fell in the 19th over as he miscued a pull off Zaheer Khan into the hands of Praveen in the outer.
Praveen then conceded just seven runs in the final over, and 24 in his excellent four-over spell.
Steyn was the other bowler to shine, with one for 29 in four overs, while Kallis finished with two for 39.
The Royal Challengers will be kicking themselves for once again not getting their batting order right, although the regulations barring more than four overseas players in the starting XI does complicate matters for them.
Teams:
Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Shoaib Malik, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Rahul Bhatia, Daniel Vettori, Mohammad Asif, Yo Mahesh, Glenn McGrath.
Bangalore Royal Challengers - Rahul Dravid, Wasim Jaffer, Ross Taylor, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Dale Steyn, Vinay Kumar, Sunil Joshi.
|
Rugby
