McMillan powers Bengal to victory

Royal Bengal Tigers 171 for 7 (McMillan 69. Murtaza 2-19) beat Delhi Giants 136 for 8 (Tarafdar 2-19) by 35 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Royal Bengal Tigers made it two out of two with a two-wicket win over Delhi Giants in Hyderabad. Craig McMillan, the Bengal captain, powered Bengal to a total of 171; the bowlers then restricted Delhi to 136.

Batting first, Bengal were off to a roaring start as Hamish Marshall hit four boundaries - two fours and two sixes - in successive overs. But a run-out in the fifth over cut short his innings on 23, and Shane Bond got Abhishek Jhunjhunwala to edge one to Marvan Atapattu at first slip three balls later.

Deep Dasgupta played solidly for a run-a-ball 26. McMillan kept the score ticking by consistently finding the boundary, but the big boost to the innings came in the 16th over bowled by left-arm spinner Abhinav Bali. McMillan went on the attack, targeting the straight boundaries for two sixes and a four before launching one over the off-side sweeper. He tried to make it five in a row, but the fifth attempt ended in the hands of backward point. Bengal rocketed from 114 for 4 to 136 for 5. They ended on 171 for 7, equalling the highest total so far in the second season.

Bengal's new-ball bowlers - Lance Klusener and Sujay Tarafdar - kept Delhi to a rate below what was required, and the pressure saw the openers fall to Tarafdar. Abbas Ali tried to step up the momentum, but a good take at midwicket from Mihir Diwakar ended his innings.

Upul Chandana, the Sri Lankan legspinner, had former team-mate Marvan Atapattu stumped off a flipper and then lured Paul Nixon to hit one straight to long-on. Delhi were left pretty much out of the hunt at 89 for 5 from 14 overs, and the remaining batsmen could only push the score to 136. McMillan was named the Man of the Match.