New Delhi, April 19: With his lightning quick bat-speed and an amazing array of strokes, Gautam Gambhir has shown over in the recent times why he is such a potent force in the shorter version of the game. Saturday was yet another example in that regard.

A fierce 58 by the India opener propelled the Delhi Daredevils to a comprehensive nine-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League Twenty20 match at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium played under lights on Saturday. A meek batting performance by Royals saw the team managing just 129/8 in their allotted 20 overs and Delhi broke no sweat in replying with a dominating 132/1 in 15.1 overs.

Gambhir made the game a no contest, hitting seven fours and one six in his 39-ball blitz, adding 112 runs with his Delhi Ranji teammate Shikhar Dhawan (52 runs, 41 balls; 8x4) for the second wicket. Daredevils were on top of their game on the day, but to the tourists’ credit, they were never expected to pose a major threat after being laid low with the absence of key foreign players.

Virender Sehwag (three-ball 12) fizzled spectacularly, only managing to face four balls, but the crowd still got their money’s worth with Gambhir and Dhawan combination providing a cocktail of high-quality cricket mixed with entertainment.

Rajasthan Royals made the right call in batting first, but that proved to be the only positive aspect of their game. Aussie pacer Glenn McGrath may be a 38-year-old retired warhorse, but his stingy bowling is a force to reckon with against the world’s best talent even now. Just when Taruwar Kohli, opening the batting alongside the Twenty20 World Cup star Yusuf Pathan, looked to have got the measure of the pacer with a lofted six off extra cover in the first over. McGrath struck back in his next over, leaving the Royals with a shock start to cope with.

His trademark away swinger found a leading edge off the U-19 talent’s bat giving a simple catch to Mithun Manhas at mid-wicket. At the other end though, the other Australian was finding it difficult to match his impeccable line and length. Yusuf Pathan tore into Brett Geeves who gave away 24 runs in his first two overs. Pathan’s two consecutive fours in the fourth over off Geeves — a slash towards point and a flick to fine-leg — helped in pushing the scoring rate along, but a reckless mix-up with one down Shane Watson cost him his wicket and the team some vital runs.

Sri Lanka’s Farveez Maharoof replaced McGrath and with his subtle variations proved to be tougher to hit than the latter. His first over went for just two runs and his second got the home team another wicket. The mounting pressure ensured wickets fell in a heap thereafter and from 37/2 in the first five overs, the Royals slipped to 80/6 in 12.

For Daredevils, Vettori seemed a bit lacklustre and after Geeves he conceded the most runs. Saurashtra all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja slogged him for a four and a six off the first two balls and then launched into a big one in the 15th over that just about cleared the top-most stand of the ground. His knock was the only guiding light though and after his dismissal, the team could only manage 30 runs in the last five overs. In the end it didn’t prove enough.