Virat Kohli smashed a brisk half-century to help the Royal Challengers Bangalore post a three-wicket victory over the Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match on Tuesday.
He hit two sixes and eight fours in his 38-ball 56 as Bangalore surpassed Delhi’s total of 160-6 with three balls to spare for their third win in seven matches of the Twenty20 tournament.
Bangalore needed 22 runs to win off the last three overs, but skipper Daniel Vettori (18 not out) and Syed Mohammad (13 not out) held their nerve under pressure to see their team home.
Photo: AFP
It was Delhi’s fourth defeat in six matches.
Kohli looked in excellent touch from the beginning, cracking four boundaries in an over from seamer Irfan Pathan, before completing his half-century off just 31 balls.
He put on 82 for the second wicket with West Indies opener Chris Gayle after the first-ball dismissal of Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan. Gayle, who hit a century in the previous match, scored a 14-ball 26.
Delhi fought back when they dismissed Gayle, South Africa’s A.B. de Villiers (5) and Kohli in the space of 13 runs to reduce Bangalore to 96-4. Kohli fell in the 10th over, bowled by South Africa paceman Morne Morkel.
Morkel then removed Saurabh Tiwary (18) and Abhimanyu Mithun in the same over to finish with 3-25 off four overs.
Australian James Hopes earlier hit a 43-ball 54 with the help of seven fours as Delhi reached a competitive total at Ferozeshah Kotla.
Put in to bat, Delhi suffered a twin blow when they lost openers David Warner (7) and skipper Virender Sehwag (25) in the space of 10 runs. Australian Warner was bowled by paceman Zaheer Khan, while Sehwag was run out.
Hopes and Venugopal Rao steadied the innings with a 47-run stand for the fourth wicket. Rao hit one six and two fours in his 21-ball 24, before being bowled by New Zealand left-arm spinner Vettori.
FLETCHER TO COACH INDIA
AFP, MUMBAI, INDIA
Former England cricket coach Duncan Fletcher was appointed as India’s new coach yesterday, board officials announced, less than one month after the country won the World Cup on home soil.
India had been on the look-out for a replacement for Gary Kirsten, who stepped down from the role following his success in guiding the cricket-crazy nation to victory in the showpiece event.
Fletcher, a former Zimbabwean all-rounder who came to prominence as a coach when reviving the England team over several years and helping them regain the Ashes in 2005, has been appointed to his new role on a two-year contract.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary N. Srinivasan made the announcement in Mumbai, naming Fletcher over other possible choices that included New Zealander Stephen Fleming and Zimbabwean Andy Flower.
Fletcher, a taciturn 62-year-old, takes over one of the most high-pressure jobs in cricket, with India scheduled to tour the West Indies in June followed by an important tour of England from July to September.
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