Pantastic Rishabh powers DD to 174
Bengaluru, April 21: 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 on Saturday.
RCB were 140/3 from 15 overs, needing 35 off 30 balls when this edition went to bed.
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. — PTI