Royal Challengers Bangalore 157-8 (AB de Villiers 64*, Andrew McDonalds 30, Doug Bracewell 3-32) beat Delhi Daredevils 137-7 (Naman Ojha 33, Aaron Finch 25, Muttiah Muralitharan 3-25) by 20 runs.

A hostile knock by AB de Villiers knocked out Delhi Daredevils as the Royal Challengers Bangalore emerged winners in their opening match of the IPL 2012.

AB de Villiers was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his stunning innings of 64 off just 42 balls which was hailed by the packed house who came to support their local team.

The fifth match of the tournament was played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on April 7, 2012.

Earlier, Delhi Daredevils Captain Virender Sehwag, won the toss and put the rival team in to bat first. Andrew McDonalds and Cheteshwar Pujara opened the innings for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and 11 runs were scored of the initial two overs. McDonlad butchered Irfan Pathan for 18 runs in the third over which included one six over long on and three fours. Pujara tried to follow his partner and hit a four on the second ball of the next over but lost his wicket on the last ball for 11.

McDonald tried to escalate the scoring, lost his wicket and was caught by Doug Bracewell off Morne Morkal for 30 off 19 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours. The Delhi Daredevils bowlers took over from there and the wickets started sliding as AB de Villiers secured one end. The home side was reeling at 59-4 in 8.1 overs when de Villiers and Mayank Agarwal stabilised the innings as the latter opted for attack. They added 26 runs for the fifth wicket when Agarwal was caught at long-off by Yogesh Nagar on the bowling of Shahbaz Nadeem for 16.

The fifth wicket was lost at 85 runs and the skipper of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Daniel Vettori, went back to the pavilion after the addition of 18 runs at his individual score of just three runs. Ranganath Vinay Kumar came in next and the pace of scoring was speeded up when de Villiers banged his fifty on the first ball of the 19^th over from Irfan Pathan. That was an excellent six earned on a high full toss which went over the third man boundary by virtue of an excellent reverse sweep. That was followed by a couple of fours and Irfan was hammered for 18 runs in that over.

Vinay shared a quick fired stand of 54 runs in 5.3 overs with de Villiers before he was gone for 18 runs. AB de Villiers top scored with unbeaten 64 off 42 balls with 2 smart sixes and 6 fours as the Royal Challengers Bangalore smashed 157 runs for the loss of 8 wickets at the end of the 20^th over.

Doug Bracewell was the highest wicket taker with three, Morne Morkal held two as Nadeem and Glenn Maxwell shared one wicket each.

Delhi Daredevils got off to a flying start as Aaron Finch dispatched Zaheer Khan for three consecutive sixes but Virender Sehwag was caught by Pujara at cover on the fifth ball of the same over for a duck. Naman Ojha came in next and made his intentions clear by accumulating 10 runs in the second over with one six and a four. He continued the aggression and sent the ball twice rolling over the fence in the fifth over as Finch secured the other end while adding useful runs.

The first fifty of the innings was completed on the fourth ball of the seventh over and Ojha was caught smartly by Virat Kohli on the third ball of the eighth over which was the first one from the master off spinner, Muttiah Muralitharan. He was gone after scoring 33 runs off 26 balls with one six and 4 fours as Murali struck again in his next over when Finch was declared lbw for 25 off 24 deliveries with 3 fours.

The Delhi Daredevils batsmen went back to their shells which resulted in quick wickets at regular intervals and they found themselves in a dismal position at 83-5 in 13.4 overs. The late order batsmen tried to accelerate the scoring but were unable to chase the healthy total posted by the rival team. Irfan Patahn was the notable batsman who scored 24 runs off 15 balls with one six and two fours as Delhi Daredevils managed 137 runs for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of the regulated 20 overs.

Muttiah Muralitharan was the main destructor with the ball who grasped three wickets whereas Zaheer Khan, McDonald and Daniel Vettori claimed one wicket each.

The Royal Challengers Bengal won their first match of the event in a grand style and earned 2 points while Delhi Daredevils have secured 2 points out of two games.