IPL 10: Royal Challengers Bangalore throttle Delhi Daredevils

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore won the last-minute thriller with 15 runs as Daredevil’s colt Rishabh Pant’s heroic went vain. The final over by Pawan Negi sent back Pant and Shahbaz Nadeem to pavilion which led RCB to a last gasp victory.

RCB has upped their tempo with this win in this  IPL season after being beaten by Sunrisers Hyderabad. It appeared as if Kedar Jadhav had a point to prove. The diminutive batsman, who played just four matches last season for the Royal Challengers Bangalore without much success before warming the dugout in their run-up to the final, seized his moment in stunning fashion.

A huge change from the Jadhav of 2016, the Maharashtra batsman was the saving grace for the home team against the Delhi Daredevils at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday night.

With the home team, led by Shane Watson making four changes — sign of insecurity? — from their first game defeat to the Sunrisers, it was clear they were desperate. Out went Travis Head, Sreenath Arvind, Sachin Baby and Aniket Choudhary with Billy Stanlake, Iqbal Abdullah, Pawan Negi and debutant wicketkeeper-bat Vishnu Vinod stepping in.

But Watson’s luck just stayed with the toss. Promoting himself up the order to join Chris Gayle at the top, the RCB skipper flattered to deceive as did the rest of the team, leaving Jadhav, who single-handedly took them to a respectable 157 for eight in 20 overs.

Jadhav (69, 37b, 5x4, 5x6), who smote the bowlers with absolute disdain looked as if he was in a trance, nonchalantly brushing away the non-striker after each of his big hits. He even gave the same treatment to his captain, suggesting him to get on with it.

Jadhav did get on punishing Carlos Brathwaite and Amit Mishra, plundering the leggie for 24 in the 13th over to lift the spirit of the RCB camp. With Gayle falling cheaply again, Mandeep Singh dragging on Pat Cummins’ express delivery and Watson stumped by Rishabh Pant, playing just three days after his father’s demise, the home team were in trouble.

The 66-run fourth wicket partnership between Jadhav and Stuart Binny, whose personal contribution was just 16, lifted the Challengers’ run rate even as the Delhi bowlers, led by Chris Morris (3-21) stifled them.The problem was that all the RCB batsmen looked to hit big from the first delivery but the fluidity was missing. RCB’s most productive overs were between the 10th and 15th and once Jadhav fell in the 17th, the rate dipped with  skipper Zaheer Khan, showing no sign of rustiness, picking up 2-31 from four.