Collingwood Powers Daredevils to Third Home Victory


New Delhi, Apr 5 (IANS): Paul Collingwood struck a brilliant knock on a slow Ferozeshah Kotla track as Delhi Daredevils continued their rampaging form to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 37 runs in the Indian Premier League here Sunday.

Collingwood smashed an unbeaten 75 off 46 balls, peppering the mid wicket boundary with six of his seven sixes that enthralled the packed crowd here, and carried Delhi Daredevils to 184 for five.

The bowlers then backed it with a fine performance to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 147 for nine.

It was Daredevils' third home win in a row after outplaying Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings. They strengthened their claim for the semi-finals, nosing ahead of RCB in the IPL standings to be at second spot with 12 points, two less than leaders Mumbai Indians.

Jacques Kallis, the highest scorer in the tournament, was the lone fighter for RCB, scoring 54 off 42 balls but once Pradeep Sangwan took his wicket in the 16th over, caught by Collingwood at long off, it was the end of the road for them. Pacer Sangwan took three wickets while Amit Mishra also got three.

Kallis took his time in the middle but there was no help from the other end as the asking rate kept mounting.

Kevin Pietersen, who played a crucial knock in their last match against Kings XI Punjab, made 16 off 19 balls.

Robin Uthappa (12), Ross Taylor (22) and Virat Kohli (13) - all got starts but could not find the big shots.

Daredevils bowled with guile on the slow and turning track and did not allow the formidable RCB batsmen to play their shots.

It was a difficult task for RCB once Daredevils put up 180-plus on the board.

RCB perhaps made the mistake of making too many changes for the crucial match. They brought in left arm spinner K.V. Appanna, Ross Taylor and Abhmimanyu Mithun in place of key pacers Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar and batsman Manish Pandey, who have all contributed to team's success this season.

Daredevils too added left arm spinner Daniel Vettori to their side.

But one man made all the difference in the match and it was Collingwood.

After electing to bat, Daredevils were off to a good start through dashing Virender Sehwag (35) and David Warner (33), but soon lost quick wickets before Collingwood revived the innings.

Collingwood struck three fours and seven sixes on a track that was not conducive for shot making. He and Daniel Vettori (19 not out) accelerated brilliantly in the last five overs and struck 59 runs.

Royal Challengers skipper Anil Kumble opened the attack and Sehwag, after paying due respect to the veteran in the first over, cut loose in the next hitting him for 16 runs which included a straight six.

Sehwag and Warner scored at a fast clip to add 41 runs in 26 balls, but Delhi then lost quick wickets.

Sehwag greeted Abhimanyu Mithun with a six over cover point, but the fast bowler had his revenge in the next ball when he bowled short and cramped the opener for space, the ball hitting his stumps.

Gambhir was run out, courtesy Appanna's direct hit. Collingwood and Warner added 31 runs before the latter was dismissed by Kumble caught by Kohli. Cameron White then pulled off a brilliant low catch diving to his left at short cover to get rid of Dinesh Karthik and Deredevils were reduced to four for 90.

Collingwood then took charge of the innings, showing his experience to negotiate the slow bowlers on a tricky wicket that was spinning, and kept low.

He showed patience and picked up the bad deliveries for big shots. He pounced on the opportunity to struck two sixes and a four off White's only over making the bowler pay for wayward bowling.

The visitors got back the momentum for a brief period by checking the run flow in the next few overs.

After Kedar Jadhav was run out, Collingwood and Vettori exploded in the last five overs. Bangalore also paid dearly for some sloppy fielding. The two added 59 runs off the last five overs.

Collingwood picked his favourite spot mid-wicket time and again to send the ball soaring over the ropes.

Of the seven sixes that he struck, six flew to the mid wicket region as Collingwood was quick to pick his spot and then swung the bat with amazing power.

  

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Title: Collingwood Powers Daredevils to Third Home Victory



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