Bangalore: Star batsman Yuvraj Singh smashed a magnificient 68 not out in a stunning six-hitting exhibition to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 16-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in an IPL match here.
The in-form Yuvraj, who had scored a brilliant 83 of just 38 balls against Rajasthan Royals in his side's last game here, set the Chinnaswamy Stadium on fire as he hit nine sixes and a four off just 29 balls to single-handedly take his side to a formidable 186 for four after being put into bat.
Chasing a stiff 187 for a win, Delhi were restricted to 170 for seven in 20 overs to lose the match which started 70 minutes behind schedule due to light drizzle.
With today's win, Bangalore jumped to sixth spot with eight points from 10 matches while Delhi languished at the bottom with four points from 10 matches as they now face an uphill task to qualify for the play-offs.
Coming out to bat at the 13th over at team total of 94/3, Yuvraj struck sixes almost at will towards the end of the innings after a slow start by his side. This was his third fifty-plus knock in 10 matches in IPL-7 as he signalled his return to his vintage form of the old after recent failures.
Yuvraj hit three sixes of successive balls off South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir to gather 21 runs from 17th over and then smashed a maximum each in the next two overs bowled by Mohammed Shami and Siddarth Kaul. He reserved his best for the last as he hammered Rahul Shukla for 27 runs in the final over, belting four consecutive sixes.
Delhi began their chase in the worst possible fashion as they lost both their openers Murali Vijay (1) and Quinton de Kock (6) inside the second over at team total of 10 for two.
Captain Kevin Pietersen (33) and Mayank Agarwal (31) briefly kept Delhi in the game with a 63-run stand for the third wicket from 7.2 overs before the latter was out. The match was as good as over when Pietersen was out in the 12th over off leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal as Delhi were reduced to 97 for four, needing 90 runs from eight overs.
