Rishabh Pant’s brave innings of 57 went in vain as Delhi Daredevils (DD) slumped to a 15–run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), in the fifth game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017. Having suffered a personal tragedy of losing his father a few days ago and deciding to join his team right after the cremation, Pant showed tremendous character in waging a lone battle for an erratic Delhi batting line-up which was blown away by RCB in their backyard, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Chasing 158 to win, Delhi Daredevils could manage only 142 for 9 off overs and lost their first game of the season.
Pant scored close to half the runs Delhi Daredevils scored in their chase, with none of their batsmen finding runs on a decent batting wicket. Opener Sam Billings looked positive in his 19-ball 25, but no other batsmen could provide any resistance. Pant kept losing batting partners at regular intervals, and despite Delhi having an outside chance of winning the clash, it was taken away with Shane Watson pinning down Amit Mishra for 5 balls in the penultimate over and allowed a mere 2 runs. Pant fell to Pawan Negi on the first ball of the last over, with Delhi Daredevils needing 19 off it.
Delhi Daredevils sprang a surprise when Aditya Tare was sent up ahead instead of Pant along with Billings. Tare struck three boundaries but could never really get a move-on, and was cleaned up by Tymal Mills. Karun Nair was sent in at No. 3, but he did not last long with Billy Stanlake cleaning him up.
Sanju Samson joined Billings in the middle to take Delhi Daredevils ahead, but the latter was dismissed going for a big drive, getting a thick edge off a delivery that bounced more than expected. Pant walked out to bat at No. 5, and began with a powerful six off Iqbal Abdulla on the first ball itself. Chris Morris and Pant tried taking the attack to the opposition, but Abdulla struck to remove the latter for a mere 4.
Carlos Brathwaite, who was axed by the West Indies following a string of failures, saw no change in fortunes despite surviving a leg-before appeal which would have had him walking back. It was an umpiring howler that provided Brathwaite a lifeline, but he went for a heave against Yuzvendra Chahal on the next ball, and was cleaned up. The ball went under the bat of the big West Indian and crashed into his wickets.
Pat Cummins has abilities with the bat, but he got too ambitious after flicking a leg-side delivery off Shane Watson for a boundary. He made room to work a delivery around the off-side but missed the line and was cleaned up, leaving Pant a lot to do if Delhi had to win.
Delhi Daredevils needed 21 off the final 12 balls. Watson took matters in his own hands as the other fast bowlers were bowled out, and delivered a terrific over, allowing a mere 2 runs off it. With 19 needed off 6 balls, Watson turned to Pawan Negi, and the all-rounder cleaned up Pant on the first ball.
Earlier in the innings, Kedar Jadhav struck 5 sixes and as many boundaries to lift Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) out from a trench and helped them to score 157 for 8 in their allotted 20 overs. RCB batting flopped once again after they won the toss and elected to bat. Chris Morris claimed 3 for 21 while Zaheer Khan, who was left frustrated with that batting effort, claimed 2 for 31 off their four overs respectively.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 157 for 8 in 20 overs (Shane Watson 24, Kedar Jadhav 69; Zaheer Khan 2 for 31, Chris Morris 3 for 21) beat Delhi Daredevils 142 for 9 in 20 overs (David Willey 25, Rishabh Pant 57; Billy Stanlake 2 for 29, Pawan Negi 2 for 3) by 15 runs.
Man of the Match: Kedar Jadhav
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