#IPL8: #DDvRCB

Delhi Daredevils had won 3 out of their six matches. While Royal Challengers Bangalore lost all of their home matches. Both the teams have won their last matches coming into this match. Hence both of them were high on confidence. Mitchell Starc brought that fortune and confidence for Royal Challengers Bangalore. On the other hand Delhi Daredevils played some outstanding cricket in some matches while they were not upto the mark in some. Both the teams wanted to carry on with their winning momentum.

Virat Kohli won the toss in Delhi and elected to field first. There was a grass on the wicket and Kohli was playing extra seamer in place of Chahal. So it was a good decision to field first. Starc backed Kohli's decision with the wicket of Iyer in the very first over. Delhi wasn't getting the kind of start its openers promised to give. Either of Iyer and Agarwal (mostly) was getting out early. Daredevils' batting was highly dependent on Duminy at no. 3. Duminy once again had to bat till the end. Agarwal and Duminy were giving respect to Starc and were fetching runs from Aaron. Delhi Daredevils were 30/1 after 4 overs. Seeing Duminy's comfort at the crease Kohli brought Wiese into the attack and it turned out to be a great move by Kohli as Wiese picked up Duminy's wicket on the second ball of the over. Fall of Duminy's wicket brought Yuvraj Singh to the crease. Yuvraj played couple of balls to open his arms but he was off the mark on the last ball of the powerplay. Delhi Daredevils were 38/2 at the end of powerplay.

In 7th over Aaron was given the ball and the plan was clear to bang in short to Yuvraj. Agarwal took single on the first ball. Aaron banged the second ball short to Yuvraj and Yuvraj edged that delivery to Kartik. Aaron nipped that delivery away with pace and Yuvraj tried to play that delivery with an angled bat. Mathews came in next and Aaron again banged in short and guess what he got Mathews as well. It was great display of fast bowling by Aaron. 2 wickets in 2 balls and Daredevils were in deep trouble. Then Agarwal and Jadhav started playing cautiously which slowed down the scoring rate. At the half way mark Delhi Daredevils were 54/4. After that also Agarwal and Jadhav see off couple of overs to get well in before going big. After 12 overs Delhi Daredevils were 67/4 and it was high time to go big in order to get respectable total on the board. Agarwal came down the wicket on the 1st ball of 13th over but was stumped. He tried to up the ante and perished. All the time he spent in the middle went in vain. With the wicket of Agarwal Delhi lost half of their side.

Next man in was Coulter-Nile. He is known for his hitting. So it was crucial for Delhi that he stays in the middle till the end. Coulter-Nile played few deliveries first to get in. Then he smacked short and wide delivery from Wiese for 4. After hitting that boundary he went for hoick over the mid wicket but the ball hit his back leg and he was judged LBW. Daredevils were six down and were going nowhere. Jadhav was quiet by the time Coulter-Nile got out but after his wicket he started scoring some quick runs. Jadhav hit back to back boundaries to Starc in 15th over but it was too late by then. He had no support at the other end. Starc yorked Mishra on the last ball of the 15th over. There was something wrong with Delhi's batting that day. You can't expect much from your tail enders when your main batsmen is not doing well. Daredevils were 90/7 after 16. Starc came on to bowl his last over and now it was turn of Nadeem. Starc yorked Nadeem this time and Delhi's tail had no answer to Starc's yorkers. After that Harshal Patel picked up Jadhav in 18th over and Daredevils were bundled on 95. Kohli's speedsters bowled according to the plans and didn't allow Delhi batsmen to settle down. 96 was the cake walk for Royal Challengers Bangalore considering Daredevils' bowling attack.

Kohli and Gayle began against Coulter-Nile. Gayle was cautious in the 1st over but from the 2nd over itself, he started going after bowlers. Gayle hit two 4s and a 6 to Joseph in the second over and Royal Challengers Bangalore was off to a great start. Gayle was in no mood of settling down that evening. He was hitting every bowler coming in his way. In 5th over Gayle hit a four and a six to Coulter-Nile as well. Royal Challengers Bangalore were 43/0 at the end of 5 overs. Gayle wasn't worried about the grass on the pitch he was only concentrating on small boindaries of Kotla. Gayle and Kohli brought up the 50 run partnership in 6th over and in that partnership Gayle's contribution was 43 runs. Imagine his dominance in that partnership. Then Kohli took on Mishra in 7th over. He hit back to back boundaries to Mishra in that over. After Mishra it was Tahir's turn in 8th over. Kohli hit boundary while Gayle dispatched him for the maximum.

After 8 overs Royal Challengers Bangalore were 73/0. They were in a hurry to finish the game which was going to help them in improving their net run rate. Mishra again was hit for a four and a six in 9th over by Kohli and Gayle respectively. Then Royal Challengers Bangalore needed only 8 runs. Mathews bowled a tight 10th over. He gave away only 3 runs in that over but after that Kohli hit back to back boundaries to finish the game. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match by 10 wickets. Royal Challengers Bangalore outplayed Delhi Daredevils in every department of the game. It looked like Gayle and Kohli were playing on a different pitch altogether. Varun Aaron was ad judged man of the match for taking two crucial wickets. Delhi Daredevils has to work on their strategy. Daredevils has already lost 4 out of 7 matches they have played. Now to qualify for playoffs they have to win 5 out of remaining 7 matches. They face Kings XI Punjab next. They have already beaten them earlier in the tournament. So Daredevils will be high on confidence against Kings XI. Let's see whether they come back on to winning track or not.