IPL PHOTOS: Yuvraj, Kohli help Bangalore ease past Delhi

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in their IPL opener at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

RCB chased down the target of 146 with 20 balls to spare.

- Scorecard

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to bowl. Daredevils were reduced to 35 for four in the eighth over with their top order batsmen collapsing like a pack of cards.

RCB left out Chris Gayle and included Nic Maddinson, Mitchell Starc, AB de Villiers and Albie Morkel at the overseas players. 

Dinesh Karthik led the Daredevils in place of an unfit Kevin Pietersen. The Delhi outfit has named Ross Taylor, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell and J P Duminy as their four foreign players. 

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Dinesh Karthik (captain), Murali Vijay, Mayank Agarwal, JP Duminy, Ross Taylor, Manoj Tiwary, Jimmy Neesham, Wayne Parnell, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Sharma, Mohammed Shami. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Parthiv Patel, Nic Maddinson, Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, Albie Morkel, Sachin Rana, Ashok Dinda, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Aaron.

Delhi Daredevils found themselves in tatters before Jean-Paul Duminy's brilliant unbeaten half century took them to a decent 145 for four.

The South African and Ross Taylor (43 not out) shared 110 runs for the unbroken fifth wicket stand at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

The duo built the innings by grafting for runs initially before opening up towards the end. 

Duminy made a splendid 67 not out and slogged at the death overs as he hit a six off Yuvraj Singh and two maximums off Ashok Dinda.

Duminy, the more aggressive of the duo, hit four boundaries and three sixes in his 48-ball unbeaten knock as Delhi, who could score just 49 for four at the halfway mark, added 96 runs in the second 10 overs including 63 runs from the final five. 

For RCB, Mitchell Starc, Albie Morkel, Varun Aaron and Yuzvendra Chahal took a wicket each. 

Defending a competitive total, on a surface that was two-paced, Delhi struck early. 

Mohammed Shami had Nic Maddinson (4) caught behind in his first over. 

However, Parthiv Patel (37) and his captain (Kohli) added 56 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation of the Bangalore innings. 

Yuvraj Singh struck form with a brilliant unbeaten half century.

The southpaw (52 not out) shared 84 runs from just 7.9 overs with captain Virat Kohli (49 not out) for the unconquered third wicket as RCB chased down the target of 146 with 20 balls to spare.

Yuvraj, who received criticism from some quarters for his slow batting in India's loss against Sri Lanka in the recent World T20 in Bangladesh, began tentatively but came to his own later as he hit three fours and five sixes in his 29-ball unbeaten knock. 

Kohli, who was adjudged player of the tournament in the same, continued with his top form in T20 though he was dropped twice, on 23 and
24. He hit two fours and three sixes in his 38-ball unconquered innings.

It was easy pickings for Bangalore overall.