Paul Collingwood struck a breezy 46-ball 75 before bowlers wrecked havoc as Delhi Daredevils inched closer towards booking a semifinal berth beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 37 runs in their Indian Premier League match in New Delhi on Sunday .
Openers Virender Sehwag (35) and David Warner (33) set the tone but it was Collingwood's blitzkrieg, bejewelled with three fours and seven sixes, that catapulted Daredevils to a competitive 184 for five after the home team skipper Gautam Gambhir opted to bat first.
The hosts then put up a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Bangalore to 147 for nine to keep their slate clean against the Anil Kumble-led side and moved one place up to the second spot in points tally.
Spinner Amit Mishra and paceman Pradeep Sangwan picked up three wickets each giving away 32 and 22 runs respectively, while Farveez Maharoof, Daniel Vettori and Rajat Bhatia accounted for one wicket apiece at Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium.
South African Jacques Kallis picked up his fifth fifty of IPL III but his 42-ball 54 was not enough as the Bangalore outfit lost wickets at regular intervals and was left to do the catch up act after a slow start to their run-chase. Chasing 185 to win, Bangalore rushed to 25 in three overs after Kallis slammed two fours in the first over and picked up a couple more in the next two overs. But opener Cameron White's (4) wicket in the fourth over put brakes on the RCB innings as Kallis and Kevin Pietersen picked up ones and twos to build up the innings. However, Sangwan's yorker cleaned up Pietersen as RCB slumped to 52 for two in 9.2 overs.
Kallis and Robin Uthappa then tried to break the shackles and picked up a couple of sixes off Daniel Vettori in the 11th over, but Warner took a stunning catch to get rid off Uthappa in the next over. Needing 105 off 45 balls, Ross Taylor walloped three sixes -- two over mid-wicket and one over square-leg -- to take Bangalore to 105 for three in 14 overs. But Taylor's 10-ball 22 innings was cut short by Bhatia when he had the New Zealander trapped in front of the wickets. Kallis also perished in the very next over giving a simple catch to Collinwood.
Needing 79 off 34 balls, Virat Kohli (13), Vinay Kumar (3), Rahul Dravid (14) and Abhimanyu Mithun (5) tried their bit but it was not enough. PTI
