Dhawan stars in Delhi win, Bangalore beats Rajasthan

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Shikhar Dhawan scored his first Twenty20 century and Axar Patel blasted three sixes in the last over as Delhi Capitals beat Chennai Super Kings by five wickets on Saturday to go top of the Indian Premier League.

Earlier at Dubai, AB de Villiers smashed four sixes in the last two overs and earned Royal Challengers Bangalore a seven-wicket win against unimpressive Rajasthan Royals.

Delhi leads with 14 points after its seventh win in nine games. Bangalore is joint second with Mumbai on 12 points.

The defeats pushed Rajasthan and Chennai into a very tight corner with six points each from nine games and only five league matches left.

Dhawan was unbeaten on 101 off 58 balls, hitting 14 fours and a six.

Patel was 21 not out off only five balls, and his last-over blitz against the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja carried Delhi to 185-5 with a ball to spare in reply to Chennai’s total of 179-4.

Dhawan was twice dropped in the 20s and soon after completing his half century Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni couldn’t hold onto a low edge from the left-hander’s bat. The Delhi opener successfully overturned an lbw decision through a review on 99 before reaching the landmark with a single.

Faf du Plessis had top-scored with 58 for Chennai, with the total boosted by Ambati Rayudu’s 45 off 25 and Jadeja’s 13-ball knock of 33 with four sixes.

There were sixes galore in the IPL on Saturday. With Bangalore needing 35 off the last two overs, de Villiers hammered three successive sixes off left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat’s first three balls of the 19th over. That over ended up costing 25 runs as Unadkat finished with 0-46 from four overs.

De Villiers finished on 55 not out off 22 balls. He brought up victory by hitting Jofra Archer for a big six over midwicket as Bangalore reached 179-3 with two deliveries to spare.

South Africa pacer Chris Morris took 4-26 to restrict Rajasthan to 177-6 despite skipper Steve Smith returning to form with 57 off 36. Morris, who removed England’s Ben Stokes (15) and Jos Buttler (24), bowled an excellent last over for just four runs and took two wickets.

Morris had Smith caught at sweeper cover and got Archer leg before wicket off a toe-crushing last ball of the innings.

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