Pant, Iyer power DD to 174-5 against RCB

Young batsmen Rishab Pant and Shreyas Iyer cracked twin half-centuries as Delhi Daredevils recovered from a slow start to post a respectable 174-5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL fixture at the M Chinnaswamy stadium here today.

Pant (85) anchored the DD innings as he shared a 75-run stand in 8.1 overs with Iyer (52 off 31 balls) and then added another 65 with Rahul Tewatia (13 not out). His 48-ball innings was laced with six boundaries and seven sixes.

For RCB, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2/22) claimed two wickets, while Umesh Yadav (1/27), Washington Sundar (1/31) and Corey Anderson (1/10) took one wicket each.

 

After electing to bowl, RCB tightened the screw on Delhi Daredevils right from the start with Umesh Yadav dismissing skipper Gautam Gambhir (3) in the third over. The visitors could manage only 11 in first four overs.

First down Iyer (52) then tried to break the shackles by smashing two boundaries off Yadav but Yuzvendra Chahal soon produced a flipper and cleaned up the other opener Jason Roy (5), who was struggling against the lethal leg-spin of the Indian spinner.

New man Pant then joined Iyer and he was off the mark with a boundary as Delhi Daredevils reached 28-2, the lowest powerplay score this season. Iyer smashed a four and six off Yadav's last over as DD crossed the 50-mark in 9 overs.

The young duo slowly started to pile up the runs and amassed 75 runs in 8.1 overs to take Delhi close to the 100-mark.

In the 14th over, Iyer clobbered two consecutive sixes off Washington Sundar to bring up his fifty before giving away a simple catch to Mohammad Siraj at short third man as DD slipped to 98-3.

Glenn Maxwell (4) then tried to play a reverse shot which was caught by Siraj again at short third man.

Pant, meanwhile, continued to take the bowlers to the cleaners as he blasted back-to-back sixes off Chahal over long-off and third man boundary. He repeated the treatment to Siraj in the 18th over before sending Chris Woakes for a leather hunt with two fours and a six in the 19th over.

Corey Anderson bowled the final over and Pant sent him out of the park in the second ball before he was caught by AB de villiers when he was trying for another big shot.