Yuvraj, Kohli star in RCB's IPL win

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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have made the most of Kevin Pietersen's absence due to a finger injury, romping to a big Indian Premier League victory over the Delhi Daredevils on the back of some Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh brilliance.

Batting first, Delhi made 4-145 off their twenty overs, JP Duminy (67 off 48) and Ross Taylor (43 off 39) guiding the Daredevils out of a precarious position at 4-35 to reach the respectable total.

The bowling plaudits were shared evenly amongst the first four bowlers with Mitchell Starc (1-33), Albie Morkel (1-18), Varun Aaron (3-9) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1-18) picking up a wicket apiece. Ashok Dinda was the most expensive of the Royal Challengers' attack, going 0-51 off his four overs.

Chasing 146 to win, Bangalore got off to a shaky start, losing Nic Maddinson for four in the second over. Parthiv Patel and Kohli put on 56 for the next wicket, before Patel misjudged a Rahul Sharma quicker delivery and was bowled for 37.

The Delhi celebrations were short-lived however, two straight-forward opportunities to dismiss Kohli going begging off the bowling of Wayne Parnell with the batsman on 23 and 24 runs.

Kohli ended up unbeaten on 49 off 38 balls, combining with Yuvraj (52 off 29 balls) to blast the Royal Challengers Bangalore to an eight-wicket win with 20 balls to spare.

Delhi Daredevils

Squad: Kevin Pietersen (c), Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Mohammad Shami, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Quinton de Kock, Manoj Tiwary, Jaidev Unadkat, JP Duminy, Ross Taylor, Kedar Jadhav, Rahul Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Laxmi Ratan Shulka, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell, Shahbaz Nadeem, Saurabh Tiwary, Siddarth Kaul, Rahul Shukla, Jayant Yadav, HS Sharath, Milind Kumar.

Last year – wooden spoon

Three victories from 16 starts rooted Delhi to the foot of the ladder last season, losing their last six to push the now defunct Pune to eighth and resign them to last. The Daredevils were stuck in the middle of David Warner’s Twitter controversy too, rendering the star Australian batsman to a mere ghost of his brilliant best.

One to watch

Who else but Kevin Pietersen. The walking headline strolls into the Delhi set-up free of international stresses thanks to the English Cricket Board and its decision dump its leading run-scorer across all formats. Handed the captaincy for this season, KP’s influence will be felt from bottom to top at the Daredevils, and let’s not forget, he’s a very, very good batsman.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Squad: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Yuvraj Singh, Mitchell Starc, Albie Morkel, Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda, Parthiv Patel, Muttiah Muralitharan, Ravi Rampaul, Nic Maddinson, Harshal Patel, Vijay Zol, Abu Nechim, Sachin Rana, Shadab Jakati, Sandeep Warrier, Tanmay Mishra, Yogesh Takawale, Yuzvendra Chahal.

Last year – 5th place

Possessing a roster that includes the biggest names in T20 cricket, it’s hard to imagine how RCB didn’t make the finals. Kohli, Gayle and de Villiers should alone win you 10 games, but alas, it’s the other names, most notably the remaining seven Indian players, that determine an IPL season. Three losses in their last five games proved the difference, missing out on the finals by a solitary win. The season wasn’t a complete waste, Chris Gayle broke almost every batting record when he plundered 175 not out against Pune. How does someone score 175 in a T20 match?

One to watch

Chris Gayle. Why? 175 not out.