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Krunal Pandya leads Bengaluru to top of IPL table / Photo: ARUN SANKAR - AFP
Krunal Pandya leads Bengaluru to top of IPL table
Indian all-rounder Krunal Pandya starred with bat and ball as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets to top the Indian Premier League table on Sunday.
Chasing 163 for victory, Bengaluru slipped to 26-3 before Virat Kohli and Pandya put together 119 runs to achieve their target with nine balls to spare at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground.
Delhi-born Kohli hit 51. The left-handed Pandya smashed an unbeaten 73 off 47 balls after he returned 1-28 with his left-arm spin in Bengaluru's seventh win of this season from 10 matches to reach the top of the 10-team table.
It was Bengaluru's sixth successive away win as they and Kohli search for their first IPL title since the league's inception in 2008.
Bowlers set up victory after Bhuvneshwar Kumar and fellow pace bowler Josh Hazlewood shared five wickets between them to restrict Delhi to 162-8.
Delhi skipper Axar Patel opened the bowling and struck two early blows to send back IPL debutant Jacob Bethel, out for 12, and Devdutt Padikkal, for a duck, two balls later.
Bengaluru skipper Rajat Patidar was then run out for six, but Kohli and Pandya waded through the overs with caution and quick running between the wickets.
Once set, Pandya unleashed his power with boundaries and reached his fifty off 38 balls with a four off Axar.
Kohli hit his sixth half-ton as he went past Mumbai Indians batter Suryakumar Yadav (427) as the leading batsman of this season with 443 runs.
He finally fell to Sri Lanka fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera before Pandya and Tim David, who hit an unbeaten 19 off five balls, took the team over the line.
Earlier, Bengaluru's Australian import Hazlewood struck first, taking the wicket of Abishek Porel in the fourth over after the opener had got Delhi off to a flying start with his 11-ball 28.
Delhi lost another wicket in the next over before Faf du Plessis, who hit 22 on his return from a groin injury he suffered earlier this month, and KL Rahul (41) steadied the innings.
Pandya cut short Du Plessis' knock but Rahul stood firm on a sluggish pitch, putting on stands with Axar and then with Tristan Stubbs.
Axar was bowled by Hazlewood and Kumar got Rahul, but Stubbs kept up the charge as he smashed 34 off 18 balls.
Kumar gave away just nine runs off his last two overs and took three wickets to return figures of 3-33.
Hazlewood, who starred in his team's previous win with figures of 4-33, leads this season's bowling chart with 18 wickets in 10 matches.
A.Ferrara--INP
