Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) rose to the third spot on the points table with a comfortable 16-run victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Once again, it was Dinesh Karthik who rescued RCB after the mediocre first half while batting first. The wicketkeeper-batter’s unbeaten 66 helped RCB finish big and then put pressure on DC batters in the middle overs to get wickets at regular intervals and win their first game while defending a target.
Dream start
The run chase got off to an ideal start with Prithvi Shaw and David Warner taking RCB new-ball bowlers head-on. However, Mohammed Siraj got the breakthrough in the fifth over. After the 50-run partnership, Mitchell Marsh joined Warner in the middle. While Warner decimated RCB bowling attack, Marsh struggled to get bat on ball.
Middle-order failure
Warner succumbed to the scoreboard pressure and got out in an attempt to switch hit. Wanindu Hasaranga got his wicket in the 12th over of the innings. Warner scored 66 runs off 38 deliveries, laced with four fours and five sixes.
On the other end, Marsh scored just 14 runs from 24 deliveries. DC's another overseas recruit Rovman Powell disappointed them as well. Powell got out for a golden duck off Josh hazlewood's bowling. In the same over, Hazlewood got rid of Lalit Yadav as well.
Too much to chase
Rishabh Pant played a blinder of a cameo but got out to Siraj, thanks to Virat Kohli's athletic grab. Pant scored 34 runs from 17 deliveries including three fours and two sixes. Shardul Thakur hit a couple of big sixes but it was too big an ask for him in the slog overs. Thakur became Hazlewood's third victim of the day after scoring 17 off nine deliveries. Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav scored 10 each of seven deliveries as DC posted 173/7 and lost the match by 16 runs.
Early wickets
Put to bat first, RCB lost their openers early in the innings. Thakur got rid of Anuj Rawat off the first ball he bowled with an in-swinger hitting his pads. Skipper du Plessis struggled to rotate the strike and scored just eight runs from 11 deliveries. Kohli was playing himself in but his stay at the crease was cut-short by Lalit Yadav's direct hit.
Maxwell rebuilds innings
Glenn Maxwell took the responsibility of getting the innings back on track. Despite Prabhudessai getting out to Axar Patel, he continued to hit boundaries. Maxwell targetted an in-form Kuldeep and hit him for 23 runs in the ninth over. The Aussie got to his half-century from 30 deliveries with a boundary off Thakur. However, the leg-spinner had the last laugh as he got Maxwell's wicket in his comeback over.
Karthik mayhem
After Maxwell's wicket in the 12th over, Karthik joined Shahbaz Ahmed in the middle. Karthik went berserk in the 18th over hitting Capitals' slog overs speciallist Mustafizur Rahman for 28 runs in the 18th over, including two sixes and four fours. In the last two overs, Shahbaz joined the onslaught as well and helped RCB post 189/5.
Pant's ploy to give the last over to Kuldeep did not work either as he conceded 17 runs. The two shared an unbeaten 97-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Shahbaz scored 21-ball 32 whereas Karthik scored 66 off 34 deliveries including five fours and five sixes. Apart from Axar and Thakur, every DC bowler went for plenty of runs.