On this day in 2014 - Yuvraj’s blitzkrieg helps RCB beat DD

Over the years, the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore has gained a reputation for being notoriously favourable to teams chasing. RCB had experienced that first hand in the 2014 season, when despite being ahead of the game for the most of it, the team lost to the Rajasthan Royals as James Faulkner and Steve Smith made merry during the death overs. The one positive for Bangalore from that game was that the record acquisition Yuvraj Singh had seemingly regained his touch and confidence. With only 3 wins on the board thus far, RCB needed to overcome the Delhi Daredevils with only five games left in the league phase.

RCB would have felt the pressure right from the beginning to put up twenty runs above par, batting first, after what had transpired a few days ago at the very venue. Chris Gayle and Parthiv Patel, however, could not manage to break the shackles in the powerplay as the Delhi fast bowlers kept a tight lid on the proceedings. Gayle finally opened his arms when Duminy was brought on for the third over of the innings by lofting him for a straight six. Despite the big over, RCB managed only 34 runs in the powerplay. To make matters worse, Gayle edged one onto his stumps in the sixth over and his stumps cartwheeled away.

RCB batsmen found it difficult to find any rhythm and the pressure told. Virat Kohli, trying to sneak a second run was run out thanks to a strong throw from the deep by Rahul Shukla. The team was going at a run-a-ball pace after half the overs. AB De Villiers who had looked to set himself up now opened up. Siddharth Kaul, bowling the 12th over of the innings, faced the ire of the Protean, as 14 runs came off the second half of the over. Siddharth Kaul got his own back, having now changed ends, as De Villiers looked to swipe across the line and lost his stumps. 

Yuvraj Singh’s knock of 68 from 29 balls included 9 massive sixers

RCB looked to be on course for a below-par score, with the team going at around 7 runs an over with 16 overs having passed. RCB’s hopes of putting up a fighting total now rested on the shoulders of Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj Singh delivered exactly what he was paid the big bucks for. Imran Tahir was left speechless as the southpaw whacked him for a hattrick of sixers to different parts of the ground, finding answers to every question Tahir posed. Mohammad Shami could not stop the Yuvraj juggernaut as he too conceded 14 from the 18th over. It is rare to see a hattrick of sixers from a batsman. So, when Yuvraj took Rahul Shukla for another hattrick of sixers off the last over of the innings, an over which yielded a massive 27 runs, the Chinnaswamy stadium knew it had witnessed something special. The last four overs of the innings had been taken for 71 runs, and the total had rocketed to 186.

The hammering seemed to have left Delhi dazed. When they came out to bat, the openers returned to the dugout in no time. Murali Vijay was trapped leg-before by the guile of Muttiah Muralitharan and the dangerous Quinton De Kock lost his stumps to Mitchell Starc’s pace. Local boy Mayank Agarwal and Kevin Pietersen put up a fight, amassing 63 runs for the third wicket. However, once the partnership was broken, Delhi kept losing wickets. The constant fall of wickets meant, despite JP Duminy’s brilliance, the Daredevils never really got ahead of the game. For a brief while, Duminy and Kedar Jadhav’s alliance caused a few sweaty palms. But, Starc coming back for his final spell uprooted Duminy’s stumps and the game was all but over. Delhi fell short of the RCB total by 16 runs.