Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Delhi Capitals by 23 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match here on Saturday with the brilliant debut of Vijaykumar Vaishakh (3/20) after Virat Kohli’s (50 runs) half-century. did.<
Delhi Capitals are yet to open a winning account in five matches and remain at the last position in the table with their fifth consecutive defeat. The spinners of Delhi Capitals, led by Kuldeep Yadav, bowled tightly in the middle overs, due to which RCB, who was looking towards a big score at one time, could only manage 174 runs for six wickets. RCB was in good shape thanks to Kohli’s (34 balls, six fours, one six) third half-century of the tournament.
In this score, Glenn Maxwell also contributed 24 runs in a 14-ball inning studded with three sky-high sixes. Chasing this target, Delhi Capitals had lost three wickets for two runs and despite Manish Pandey’s (50 runs) struggling half-century innings, the team could only manage 151 runs for nine wickets in 20 overs. Delhi Capitals got off to a bad start, losing a wicket in each of the first three overs to be four for three after three overs.
Prithvi Shaw was run out in the first over, Mitchell Marsh could not even open the account in the second over and Kohli was caught by Wayne Parnell. In the third over, Yash Dhull (01) was lbw to Mohammad Siraj (2 for 23) and the score was two runs for three wickets. RCB couldn’t have asked for a better start than this.
Now the responsibility was on the shoulders of captain David Warner and Pandey (38 balls, five fours, one six). Delhi Capitals’ spin trio Kuldeep (4-1-23-2), Akshar Patel (3-0-25-1), and Lalit Yadav (4-0-29-1) controlled RCB’s run rate in the middle overs. Tightly performed brilliantly. But the dismal performance of the batsmen continued in this match as well. Apart from Pandey and Warner, Enrich Norkia scored 23 not out, Akshar Patel scored 21 runs and Aman Hakim Khan scored 18 runs.
RCB made his debut for Vijaykumar Vaishakh (3/20 in 4 overs), who dismissed Warner for the first wicket in the IPL, leaving Delhi Capitals 32 for 4 in the Powerplay. Under pressure, Delhi Capitals again lost the wickets of Abhishek Porel and Akshar Patel. Pandey reached his half-century in the 14th over after hitting two fours and a six and was trapped lbw in the next ball by Wanindu Hasaranga.
Now the formality of RCB’s victory was left, but even after a brilliant performance in the beginning, its bowlers gave away 43 runs in the last five overs. Parnell, Hasaranga, and Harshal Patel took one wicket each. Earlier, after being invited to bat, the Kohli-Duplessis pair was collecting runs without any trouble and both of them had added 33 runs in four overs. Kohli hit Enrique Norkia for a boundary at fine leg while South Africa’s Du Plessis hit two fours.
Mitchell Marsh (2/18 in 2 overs), who joined the team after his marriage, also made important contributions by scalping the wickets of RCB skipper Faf Duplesey (22) and then Mahipal Lomror (26). Kohli was in good touch as RCB were 89 for one after 10 overs and were expected to reach 200 runs. But then RCB’s team came on the back foot and Kuldeep took the wickets of Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik in consecutive balls, which made the team score 132 runs for six wickets. Earlier, Akshar Patel finished the innings of Harshal Patel, due to which the Delhi Capitals team took a hat-trick of wickets in the 15th over, which curbed the run rate of the opposition team.
The wicket of Harshal Patel happened in a strange way in which wicket-keeper Abhishek Porel appealed for lbw but the review ruled it out caught behind. Lalit Yadav ended Kohli’s innings with a full toss ball and as soon as this star Indian batsman reached the pavilion, Maxwell started batting quickly and hit two sixes in the same over.
Maxwell was in no mood to stop and the run rate was hovering around 10 runs per over when Warner ran in and took a catch off Kuldeep to dismiss the fellow Australian. Karthik was dismissed for zero on the next ball and then Delhi Capitals dominated. Shahbaz Ahmed remained unbeaten on 20 and Anuj Rawat scored 15 runs.
