New Delhi: Glenn McGrath shattered the twin myth that Twenty20 is essentially a youngsters' game with an obvious bias towards batsmen as the beanpole Aussie claimed IPL's first four-wicket haul to guide Delhi Daredevils to a 10-run win against Bangalore Royal Challengers here tonight.
Tags : Glenn McGrath,Delhi Daredevils, Royal Challengers,ipl, Indian Premier League,
Chasing 192 for victory, the Bangalore outfit came close to the target, thanks to efforts by Jacques Kallis (54 off 44 balls) and Rahul Dravid (38 off 30 balls), but it did not prove enough in the end as they ended up on 181 for five.
Earlier, after Royal Challengers skipper Rahul Dravid won the toss and inserted the hosts, the Daredevils rode on the 98-run second wicket stand between Gautam Gambhir (86) and Shikhar Dhawan (50) to post 191 for five.
The visitors sprang a surprise in their run chase by sending Praveen Kumar (6) as makeshift opener but the ploy fell flat on its face as old warhorse McGrath came up with a three-wicket burst in his first spell that had the Bangalore side in complete disarray.
McGrath scalped Praveen with his fifth delivery and removed Ross Taylor (29) and Wasim Jaffer in the fifth over to rock the visitors who were reeling at 48 for three.
Seasoned campaigners Dravid (38) and Kallis (54) shunned extravagance and almost slyly accumulated runs, pushing the score past 100 mark with occasional moments of belligerence.
McGrath returned to haunt the visitors again as he scalped Dravid to break the association that had yielded 87 runs. The Australian returned an impressive figure of 4-0-29-4, first four-wicket haul in the tournament.
Daniel Vettori removed Kallis towards the end and Mark Boucher's 17-ball 31 was just not enough to force a win for the Bangalore side.
Earlier, twin half centuries by Gambhir and Dhawan saw the Daredevils inch close to 200 before falling nine-run shy of the mark. Gambhir's 54-ball knock included 11 fours and a six before he fell to Zaheer Khan, while Dhawan's 50 came off 33 balls and included four fours and three sixes.
A subdued start by the Delhi openers proved the lull before the storm and Zaheer bore the brunt of the attack by Gambhir and Virender Sehwag (24).
Gambhir whacked Zaheer for three successive boundaries in the second over before training the gun on Steyn who was walloped for two fours in the third over.
Sehwag (24) seemed in no mood to allow his left-handed partner steal the thunder and as he hit Zaheer over mid-wicket for the maximum, followed it with a crisp flick that raced to square leg boundary and then spanked one over the sight-screen for the second six of the over.
Just when he was looking dangerous, Ross Taylor's direct throw had him back in the hut after a 12-ball cameo.
Jacques Kallis and Praveen Kumar put a brake on the flow of boundaries but Dhawan and Gambhir soon decided to up the ante and they took turn to hit Sunil Joshi for a six each in the spinner's first over.
Dhawan clobbered Kallis over mid-wicket ropes and hared for a single to complete his fifty but Dravid pulled off a blinder at short mid-wicket in the same over to send him back.
Steyn rattled Shoaib Malik's (6) timbers while Kallis broke Dinesh Karthik's (2) off-stump but Zaheer silenced the stadium when he had Gambhir caught in the deep in the 19th over.
McGrath was deservedly adjudged man of the match.
