By BV Swagath
Royal Challengers Bangalore are almost certain to defeat tournament favourites Delhi Daredevils by some margin after they piled up an incredible total of 215 for 1! Mahela Jayawardene’s decision to put RCB to bat first simply backfired as Chris Gayle unleashed a monstrous innings at the Feroz Shah Kotla. The Jamaican left hander demolished the hosts with an unbeaten knock of 128 from just 62 balls with 7 fours and as many as 13 sixes! This is now Gayle’s third IPL hundred.
While Chris Gayle smashed a century, Virat Kohli got back into form with an impressive 73* from 53 balls with 9 fours and a six. The two batsmen put up a massive stand of 204 runs for the unbroken 2nd wicket. The only casualty for RCB was Tillakaratne Dilshan who miscued a big shot off Varun Aaron.
All the Delhi bowlers were taken to the cleaners though Umesh Yadav with a maiden and Varun Aaron with about 10 dot balls showed some sort of promise. But the pitch had so little for the bowlers that the margin of error was very minute. RCB have more than enough runs on the board to fancy their chances of a big win to keep their hopes alive for an entry in the play offs.