Not many would have given Delhi Daredevils a chance after Royal Challengers Bangalore put on 191/5 at their home ground. It needed a tremendous batting performance and Quinton de Kock 108 (51b, 15×4, 3×6) provided one with a terrific century that stunned the home team.
Facing a huge total courtesy Virat Kohli’s stunning 79 and AB de Villiers brilliant 55, Delhi were off to horror start after losing Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson for single-digit scores and were staring at a huge defeat.
That seemed to matter little to de Kock, who single-handedly shouldered the burden. In a brilliant counter-attack, the 23-year-old South African registered the first century of the ninth season of the VIVO IPL, guiding his team to a seven-wicket win.
The visitors notched up 100 runs at the end of 11 overs with de Kock registering his fifty in only 22 balls. Delhi promoted Karun Nair ahead of JP Duminy and Carol Brathwaite and the local boy made most of the opportunity. Providing able support to de Kock, Nair switched gears just when the situation demanded. The two brought up the 100-run stand in only 59 balls. RCB would have still they were still ahead when 76 were needed in seven overs but David Wiese’ third over was carted for 20 runs. The two pierced the gaps and targeted the bowlers perfectly bringing the equation down to 21 from 18 balls.
Getting to his century in the 18th over, de Kock struck two more boundaries as the Daredevils needed just nine in the last two overs. In what would have been a perfect night for the southpaw, a short ball from Watson resulted in his wicket. Having witnessed a special knock, Watson chose not to celebrate but instead congratulated the batter as he returned back to a thunderous applause. Nair and Duminy then got to the total with five balls to spare.
Earlier, the Daredevils were sent on a leather hunt by Virat and de Villiers immediately after Chris Gayle was removed for his first duck in the IPL at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium by Zaheer Khan. The dugout wore no signs of nervousness as the two modern-day masters began their assault with the bat. The South African slammed two fours in his first three balls, which made it clear that RCB were not going to hold back. Kohli hit his first ball for a boundary and the two then took on Mohammed Shami. Making a return after a long gap, Shami’s first over went for 16 runs. Villiers then hit three boundaries of Zaheer’s next over while Chris Morris’ second over resulted in 13 runs.
The home team amassed a whopping 63/1 in the Power Play, the most by any team in this IPL so far. Such was the impact that ABD raced to his half-century in only 25 balls at the end of ninth over. With nobody in the Daredevils’ line-up looking to end the sensational 100 plus partnership, de Villiers finally fell to Carlos Brathwaite. The hero of the ICC World T20 final struck in his second ball as Villiers was caught in the 12th over at long-on.
In red-hot form this season, Virat spared nobody even after losing his partner. He notched up his fifty -his fourth consecutive in T20s – in just 36 balls with four boundaries and one six. With nothing in the track for bowlers to exploit, Shane Watson too joined the party, and in company of Virat, stitched a 50-run stand in only 27 balls. Kohli was out on the first ball off the 19th over and the wicket helped Daredevils restrict the home team under the 200-run mark, which proved vital.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 191/5 (Virat Kohli 79, AB de Villiers 55, Shane Watson 33, Mohammed Shami 2/34)
Delhi Daredevils 192/3 in 19.1 overs (Quinton de Kock108, Karun Nair 54, Shane Watson 2/25) Won by seven wickets.
Man of the Match: Quinton de Kock for his match-winning century
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