De Kock ton gives Delhi memorable win

Quinton de Kock's 51-ball 108 helped Delhi gun down a steep 192-run target to achieve a memorable win over Bangalore in Bangalore on Sunday. De Kock smacked 15 fours and three sixes as he brought up the first century - of the 2016 edition of the Indian Twenty20 competition - in 48 balls. He found good support from Karun Nair, who made a fifty of his own. The pair added a 134-run stand in 76 balls that effectively knocked Bangalore out.

De Kock and Nair ripped through David Wiese, who was the most expensive bowler for the hosts, with returns of none for 49. De Kock lost his opening partner, Shreyas Iyer, in the first over of the chase, but he did not let that stem Delhi's momentum, as he smacked Parvez Rasool for three fours in the second over.

Delhi lost Sanju Samson in the sixth over, but the de Kock-Nair stand brought Delhi to within eight runs of victory in the 19th over, before de Kock was dismissed by Shane Watson. De Kock was particularly punishing on Bangalore's spinners - Rasool and Yuzvendra Chahal, the pair producing combined returns of 6.1-0-51-0.

At the halfway stage, despite not getting that late flourish they needed, Bangalore seemed to have the upper hand after making 191 on the back of attack of attacking fifties from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers. After losing Chris Gayle early, de Villiers and Kohli added a 107-run stand in 65 balls. Carlos Brathwaite removed de Villiers for 55, but that did not thwart the hosts momentum as Watson and Kohli put on 63-run stand in five overs, putting Bangalore well on course for a 200+ total.

But a late surge from Delhi's pacers - Mohammed Shami and Chris Morris - allowed Bangalore to eke out just 27 runs in the last four overs. Shami, who last played for India in the 2015 World Cup, got Watson and Kohli off successive overs, in the end overs. While Morris went wicketless, he gave away just one boundary in his last two overs that produced 12 runs.

Despite Bangalore's early strike - courtesy a brilliant relay catch at the boundary by Wiese and Watson - de Kock ensured that Delhi's chase had enough drive to overcome the steep total with five balls to spare.

"I wouldn't say it was my best, but it's up there. I enjoyed that especially chasing down a total like that. Chasing it, we were very confident, we thought he had to chase down 250 actually. We were very confident going in. I wasn't thinking much, just stand in there and playing the ball as I saw it. I knew the wicket was good, especially upfront. You could stand tall and just hit through the line," de Kock said in the post-match press conference.

Opposition captain, Kohli, a man known for his ability to chase down totals in limited-overs cricket, was all praise for de Kock, "I think it was wonderful, especially the way he handled the spinners," Kohli said. "He waited on the ball pretty nicely. It always helps as a wicketkeeper when you see the pace of the wicket. That shows game awareness. He is a top-quality player. He has done really well for South Africa in the international circuit. On pitches which assist the batsmen, he is a very dangerous player. He likes to come forward and attack the bowlers and that is pretty evident with the way he plays as well. Credit to him. He really targeted his areas and targeted the bowlers."