06 May,2012 11:59 PM IST | | Agencies
AB de Villiers blasted a whirlwind 17-ball 47 at the death after Tillakaratne Dilshan's strokeful fifty to help Royal Challengers Bangalore notch up a sensational five-wicket victory over Deccan Chargers here tonight.
de Villiers emerged as the game changer as he smashed five fours and three sixes to help RCB score 72 runs in the last 3.5 overs and overhaul Deccan's target of 182 with seven balls to spare at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.
In the 18th over, de Villiers tore apart his countrymate Dale Steyn, smashing two sixes and as many fours to accumulate 23 runs. He then followed it up with two fours and a six in the first three balls of the penultimate over to take his team on the threshold of a much-needed victory.
Chasing 182 to win, Dilshan single-handedly led the run-chase and forged a 91-run opening partnership with Chris Gayle (26) to set the foundation but the hosts slipped to 117 for 4 before de Villiers played a blinder to take RCB to the fifth position in the points table.u00a0
AB de Villiers played a gem of an innings. Pic/AFP
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan smashed a strokeful unbeaten 73 to help Deccan Chargers post a challenging 181 for two against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match here today.
Opening the innings, Dhawan carried his bat through, cracking 10 fours and one six in his 52-ball innings after Bangalore's stand-in skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field.
Dhawan stitched a racy 86-run partnership for the opening wicket with Daniel Harris (47) to give Deccan Chargers a rampaging start and then added 82 runs off 44 balls with Cameron White (45) to help his team post a huge total.
Dhawan started the run-riot with a couple of fours in the first over but soon Harris catched up and smashed two fours and four sixes in his 41-ball innings before a big mix-up left him three runs short of a deserving fifty.
White then brought up the team hundred in the 13.3 over with a huge six over deep midwicket off J Syed Mohammad. Dhawan also continued his carnage and cracked consecutive boundaries in the 15th over off Prasanth Parameswaran en route to his fifty.
Bangalore used as many as seven bowlers but apart from Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, none could find the rhythm. But even though Murali bowled well, he failed to get any breakthrough for his team.
White turned the heat on the Challengers in the 17th over when he flicked one off the pads over the boundary rope and followed it up with successive boundaries at the midwicket and extracover area to pile up 16 runs.
Dhawan then blasted a four and a six in the next over to take Deccan across the 150-mark. Pace spearhead Zaheer Khan was brought back into the attack but White dispatched him over deep midwicket.
Looking for another boundary, White was finally dismissed in the first ball of the final over. However, it didn't make any difference as skipper Kumar Sangakkara (10) then smashed a four and a six off the last ball to swell the total.
Brief Score:
Deccan Chargers: 181 for 2 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 73 not out, P Parameswaran 1/45).
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 185 for five in 18.5 overs (Thilakaratne Dilshan 71, AB de Villiers 47 not out; Amit Mishra 2/28). u00a0
