Collingwood, bowlers set up big win for Delhi

Delhi Daredevils 184 for 5 (Collingwood 75*, Sehwag 35, Appanna 2-24) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 147 for 9 (Kallis 54, Sangwan 3-22, Mishra 3-32) by 37 runsPaul Collingwood outshone a glittering batting line-up to give Delhi Daredevils a big total, which their bowlers defended comfortably despite a late assault from Ross Taylor, who tried to sweep Bangalore to victory. Virender Sehwag and David Warner played their cameos, but it was Collingwood who carried Delhi in the later half of their innings.

The first half of the match was a series of punches and counter-punches. Bangalore bounced back from aggressive knocks with wickets, but kept getting pushed back by knocks even more forceful. Sehwag's 22-ball 35 was ended by Abhimanyu Mithun, only for Warner to start hurting Bangalore. A smart catch from Virat Kohli stopped Warner at 33 off 22, only for Collingwood to provide the innings the final, and most important, thrust with an unbeaten 46-ball 75.

After Anil Kumble left out Dale Steyn and Praveen Kumar to accommodate Taylor and left-arm spinner KP Appanna, Bangalore's inexperienced attack could have been blown away by Sehwag and Warner. Kumble made sure Delhi didn't run away by bowling a two-run first over, and Mithun responded by removing Sehwag second ball.

Between that, though, Sehwag raised hell, hitting five fours and two sixes, taking Delhi to 35 in 4.2 overs despite that Kumble over. That second six was a demoralising hit off Mithun's first ball in this IPL, but he came right back with one that nipped back at Sehwag. The Bangalore fielders responded, running out Gautam Gambhir, and getting Warner with an overhead catch on the long-on boundary.

Between those wickets, Warner had done some hell-raising himself, hitting three fours and two sixes to take Delhi to 83 in 9.4 overs. The immediate response to that wicket was an elegant straight-drive from Dinesh Karthik, but Bangalore struck again via a blinder from Cameron White at extra cover. This was the lift in fielding standards that the tournament desperately needed.

Collingwood, however, had quietly played himself in by then and reached 14 off 15 courtesy a six-inch back-lift six while charging down to Jacques Kallis' slower ball. And his immediate response to Karthik's dismissal was to raise the back lift a little more and punish White with two sixes and a four in his only over, taking Delhi to 111 after 12.