Daredevils win again in IPL 2009
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Sri Lankans Sangakkara and Dilshan set up IPL wins CAPE TOWN, April 26 (Reuters) – Sri Lankans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara scored half-centuries to guide the Delhi Daredevils and King’s XI Punjab to comfortable wins on day nine of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Sunday. Dilshan compiled an unbeaten 67 to anchor the Daredevils to a target of 150 against the under-achieving Bangalore Royal Challengers who limped to 149 for seven before slumping to their fourth consecutive defeat. |
England’s Kevin Pietersen top-scored with 37 for the Bangalore franchise before being bowled by Daniel Vettori and South Africa wicketkeeper Mark Boucher belted 36 from 28 balls at the end of the innings.
But Dilshan negotiated the inevitable wobbles in the run chase to push the tournament favourite Daredevils over the line with four balls to spare in Port Elizabeth.
At Newlands in Cape Town the King’s XI slumped to 48 for four in the face of disciplined bowling from 18-year-old left armer Kamran Khan and experienced seamer Munaf Patel.
But Sangakkara rebuilt the innings during a fifth-wicket stand of 75 with Indian Irfan Pathan.
Bangalore lose the big moments
One year on, Bangalore Royal Challengers have spent a lot of money treading water. Now, as then, they have lost four of their first five IPL matches. Now, as then, the correlation between spending and success has been badly skewed. The extra ingredient of Kevin Pietersen’s increasingly tricky return to top-level captaincy after he lost the England job earlier in the year has added an irresistible subplot. But Pietersen will play just one more game before flying home, leaving Bangalore a further eight group matches to avoid humiliation. On this evidence, it will be tricky.
To win a game of Twenty20, teams need to win the big moments. Since humbling Rajasthan Royals on the opening day of the tournament, Bangalore have developed a habit of losing them. Today’s match summed the tendency up, and no moment was bigger than the 17th over of the Delhi reply, which began with the Daredevils needing 43 off 24 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Undeterred by the pull for six with which Dinesh Karthik had greeted Jacques Kallis’ return to the attack two overs earlier, Pietersen asked Kallis to try again. This was questionable at the very least. Kallis’ career Twenty20 economy-rate is almost 10. In last year’s IPL he reduced that to 9, but was still the costliest of Bangalore’s regular bowlers. His stock ball in Tests, the widish away-swinger, is eminently hittable in Twenty20. Even so, Pietersen asked him to try again.
The first two balls yielded three runs, which was fine. The third was well outside off-stump, but swung just inside the mark umpires use to determine wides. To Kallis’s horror, Sudhir Asnani disagreed and signalled a wide, at which point it all went horribly wrong. Tillakaratne Dilshan, surely one of the world’s most under-rated batsmen, whacked the next ball over wide long-on and out of the ground, before Mithun Manhas lifted Kallis over the head of Robin Uthappa at long-off and away for four.
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Poor run continues for Pietersen
Kevin Pietersen’s miserable stint in the Indian Premier League continued as he was clean bowled attempting a switch hit and his Bangalore Royal Challengers slumped to a six-wicket defeat against the Delhi Daredevils.
Pietersen, along with the now-injured Andrew Flintoff, was the most expensive player in the second edition of the IPL but he has struggled for runs throughout and has now captained his side to four consecutive defeats.
There was even worse news for fellow England players Owais Shah and Paul Collingwood who were again left out of the victorious Delhi side.
Pietersen’s side clawed their way towards a competitive 149 for seven thanks to Mark Boucher’s brisk 36.
Virender Sehwag started the second innings in positive fashion, clubbing Vinay Kumar for a huge six which clattered the scoreboard.