Finance
Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Delhi Capitals by 47 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, thanks to an 88-run partnership off 53 balls for the third wicket between Rajat Patidar (52) and Will Jacks (41), Cameron Green’s 32 not out, and left-arm pacer Yash Dayal’s 3-20.
Despite being forced to bat first, DC lost four catches as RCB maintained their aggressive strategy. However, the visitors fought back well in the final five overs, conceding 49 runs and collecting five wickets to keep RCB at 187/9, 13 runs shy of 200, which appeared to be a real possibility at one time.
In response, Dayal led a fantastic bowling performance on a somewhat two-paced pitch to dismiss DC for 140. DC, who were without captain Rishabh Pant owing to a slow-over rate penalty, never recovered from losing four wickets in the Power Play. Stand-in skipper Axar Patel’s 57 off 39 balls kept DC in contention, but he received little help from the other batsmen, who dropped four catches in the first innings.
Furthermore, DC were hampered by Jake Fraser-McGurk and Tristan Stubbs’ runouts in the pursuit for 188. After Sunday’s outcome, both RCB and DC have 12 points, although the former is not in fifth place in the points table with a positive net run rate, as contrasted to the latter now in sixth position with a negative net run rate.
DC got success early when Faf du Plessis sliced Mukesh Kumar to a deep point in the third over. Virat Kohli was solid in his base and timing to hit four and three sixes in his 13-ball 27, before giving a healthy edge behind off Ishant Sharma. Patidar hit the ground running by creaming Mukesh Kumar for three boundaries, before slogging Axar over deep mid-wicket for six in the last over of power-play.
Patidar and Jacks then exclusively dealt in sixes off Axar and Kuldeep, while getting a life each off the latter in the ninth over. Jacks and Patidar were again given lives in a matter of two overs off Khaleel and Rasikh respectively.
Patidar brought up his fifty off 29 balls, before miscuing to extra-cover off Rasikh in the 13th over. Jacks was next to fall, as he hit straight to cover off Kuldeep. Cameron Green and Mahipal Lomror hit four boundaries collectively before Khaleel took the latter and Dinesh Karthik out in quick succession.
From there, DC applied more brakes on RCB’s innings as Impact Player Swapnil Singh heaved to deep backward square-leg off Rasikh, followed by Karn Sharma and Mohammed Siraj’s run-out on the last two balls of the innings.
DC didn’t have an ideal start to their chase as a returning David Warner hit straight to long-on off Swapnil in the opening over. It turned for worse as Dayal bounced out Abishek Porel off his first ball, while Fraser-McGurk, after hitting four boundaries, was run-out from the non-striker’s end as Dayal, in his follow-through, got a finger on the straight drive from Shai Hope to catch him out of the crease.
When Kumar Kushagra was trapped plumb lbw by Mohammed Siraj, DC were reduced to 30/4 in 3.3 overs. Hope launched a fightback by creaming Dayal for three fours, while Axar hit two boundaries off Siraj as DC ended the Power-play at 54/4. Though Axar hit some boundaries, RCB were able to keep DC on a leash.
With the pressure to score big, Hope went for a slog off a Lockie Ferguson full-toss, but he could only toe-end it to deep mid-wicket. Axar and Stubbs miscommunicated, and the latter was run out by a direct hit from Green at the bowler’s end. Axar kept DC in the hunt by slog-sweeping Karn Sharma once and Jacks twice, helping him to his second fifty of the season in 30 balls.
However, DC’s chances of chasing were crushed when Rasikh toe-ended a chip to long-on off Green, and Axar’s heave resulted in a top-edge caught by tumbling backward point from Green. Ferguson and Dayal knocked out the remaining two wickets to assure RCB provided its loyal fans lots of cheers.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 187/9 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 52, Will Jacks 41; Rasikh Salam 2-23, Khaleel Ahmed 2-31) beat Delhi Capitals 140 all out in 19.1 overs (Axar Patel 57; Yash Dayal 3-20, Lockie Ferguson 2-23) by 47 runs.
Source:IANS
