New Delhi, April 30: Twenty20 cricket is manic to the point of being unreal. Most of the batting has a video game feel to it — where the ball pitches really doesn’t make a difference as long as you’ve timed the slog right. But briefly, as Bangalore’s Royal Challengers went about chasing the 191 racked up by Delhi’s Daredevils, things attained a semblance of normalcy at the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Things weren’t going very well for the Bangalore side at that point. Their move to push Praveen Kumar up to the opening slot had only paid brief dividends, Glenn McGrath having him caught on the slog at deep mid-wicket for six. Wasim Jaffer got stuck in a web of T20 ugliness — a half-pull half-something skied straight to mid-on. Even Ross Taylor, the team’s one big slogging hope, had fallen.

And in the middle were Jacques Kallis and Rahul Dravid. It certainly didn’t look good. But, willed on by purists around the cricket-watching world, they started piecing together a partnership that gave Bangalore some hope. Out came the cover drives and the flicks, the square cuts and the straight-drives. Most went along the ground, a refreshing sight in this tournament of slogs and scoops.

It was too good to last though. As the scoring rate went up, Dravid seemed to lose his calm, and the middle of his bat. An attempted reverse-sweep was sandwiched between a couple of ungainly heaves. He was dismissed by McGrath for 38 off 30.

Kallis, meanwhile, reached his 50 off 40 deliveries, belligerent by his usual standards. When he got out though, Vettori having him stumped for 54, his team needed 30 off the last over.

Delhi eventually won by 10 runs and McGrath had once again done a sterling job, ending with figures of 4-0-29-4 and the Man of the Match award.

Bangalore had lost their fourth game in five and the purists were left to another night of romanticising the good old days when a well-timed square-drive meant something.

Well begun

Dravid must’ve been thinking of Delhi’s insipid display batting first against Mohali when he put the hosts in on a flat track. Unfortunately for him, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag were not. They started slowly — three runs in Dale Steyn’s first over — but blasted off after that. In the next 21 balls, the team had flown to 50. Zaheer Khan had gone for 30 in his first two overs and he must’ve been wondering what he needed to do to look more like a bowler who has played at the top level for eight years now.

Sehwag was run out brilliantly by Ross Taylor after a fiery 24 off 12, but Gambhir was joined by Shikhar Dhawan to continue the carnage. Dhawan, who got off the mark with a lovely straight drive, must be among the most impressive domestic cricketers on view in the IPL.

Gambhir again

At the other end, Gambhir was butchering along. Anything short, he pulled and cut with authority; anything full he drove majestically. Beauty hid behind brute force for most part of his knock, and the disdain with which he treated the bowling was almost rude.

The Washington Redskins cheerleaders — the Bangalore side’s now-famous travelling companions — timed their appearance with Sunil Joshi’s introduction into the bowling attack. Gambhir and Dhawan stole their limelight though, hammering the extremely former India cricketer for 19 runs in the over.

Dhawan’s knock ended at 50 (33b, 4x4, 3x6), when a fierce pull off Zaheer was plucked out of thin air at mid-wicket. The crowd was stunned into silence — it was Dravid, never known for nimble feet, who had flown across with remarkable athleticism to take the catch.

Gambhir eventually fell in the 19th over for 86 off 54 balls, a knock that included 11 boundaries and one six. His innings may not find a place when a top-10 list is drawn up at the end of the tournament, but he had done enough to give McGrath & Co enough to play with.