Friday 29 / November / 2024
Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got back to winning ways, after the defeat to Lucknow Super Giants, as they beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by 23 runs in Match 20 of TATA IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Virat Kohli sparkled with the bat with a breezy 50 off 34 balls to help RCB post a competitive 174/6. Vijaykumar Vyshak then impressed on debut with a brilliant spell of 3/20 as a collective bowling and a fine fielding effort saw them restrict DC to 151/9 and hand them their fifth loss in five matches.
Chasing 175, DC were dealt with early blows as RCB's Impact Player Anuj Rawat pulled off a spectacular direct-hit run out to send back Prithvi Shaw in the first over. Shaw punched one to extra cover where Rawat dived to his right, got up instantly and scored a direct hit at the non-striker's end as Shaw was found short. Mitchell Marsh (0 off 4) departed in the next over, top-edging one to point, off Wyne Parnell. And four balls later, Yash Dhull was trapped LBW by Siraj for 1(4).
DC could manage just 12 off the first four overs. Warner then released some pressure as he hit three fours in a row off Siraj in the fifth over. Warner hit another four off debutant Vijaykumar Vyshak. The RCB pacer though came back strong to send back Warner (19 off 13) next ball as DC stuttered to 32/4 at the end of the Powerplay.
Manish Pandey and Abhishek Porel tried to steady the ship with a 23-run stand off 19 balls but Harshal Patel struck in his first over to remove Porel (5 off 8) off a slower ball as DC lost half their side inside nine overs.
Axar Patel tried to put on some fight with a 14-ball 21 but couldn't carry on and was outfoxed by the knuckle ball from debutant Vyshak. Manish Pandey, who held fort at one end, then went after Hasaranga, smacking a couple of fours and a six in the 14th over and brought up his fifty off 37 balls. Hasaranga though bounced back and trapped Pandey LBW in the same over via a successful review.
Vijaykumar Vyshak came back to pick his third wicket in his final over as he had Lalit Yadav caught at long off for 4(7) and then Siraj got the wicket of Aman Khan (18 off 10). Nortje (23 off 14) fought till the end as he hit a slew of fours but they were way behind in the game and fell short by 24 runs.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals captain David Warner won the toss and elected to bowl. They made two changes to the starting XI as Mitchell Marsh and Aman Khan replaced Rovman Powell and Prithvi Shaw. They named Prithvi Shaw, Mukesh Kumar, Praveen Dubey, Sarfaraz Khan and Chetan Sakariya as their substitutes.
RCB too made two changes to the starting eleven as Wanindu Hasaranga and Vijaykumar Vyshak replaced David Willey and Anuj Rawat. They named Suyash Prabhudessai, David Willey, Akash Deep, Karn Sharma and Anuj Rawat as their substitutes.
RCB openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis got off to a brisk start but Du Plessis departed inside the Powerplay. Kohli got into the groove straightaway as he hammered a couple of fours off Anrich Nortje in the first over. He smacked one on the up wide of mid off and then cracked one through covers as RCB made it 11 off the first over. Warner started off with spin at the other end and Axar bowled a disciplined first over to give away just five runs. Faf du Plessis opened his boundary account, going after Mustafizur Rahman, hitting him for two fours in the next over - A top-edge over the keeper and a smash over mid off. He opened the maximum account by lofting one over long on, off Axar Patel. But still, it was a good over from Axar as it went for just seven runs.
Kohli and du Plessis hit a four each off Mitchell Marsh but the DC all-rounder bounced back to dismiss Du Plessis courtesy a brilliant one-handed catch from Aman Khan at mid-wicket. He could have had two in two but Manish Pandey dropped a tough catch of Mahipal Lomror at backward point. Lalit Yadav bowled a tight over to give away just four runs as RCB reached 47/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Kohli hit a couple of fours, off Kuldeep who then couldn't hold on to a tough low caught and bowled chance as Kohli hit one with power straight back. Kohli then pressed the accelerator button as he hit a four and six off Mustafizur and brought up his fifty off 33 balls with a single. Lomror ended the over in style with a six over point to make it 19 off the over. RCB reached 89/1 at the halfway mark.
Warner brought back the impressive Lalit Yadav and he provided a massive breakthrough, sending back Kohli (50 off 34) who mistimed a full toss straight to deep mid-wicket. Maxwell was up and running straightaway as smacked a couple of sixes off the same Lalit Yadav over.
Nortje came back to give just seven off his second over. And Mitchell Marsh then made a perfect comeback, sending back Lomror (26 off 18) off a successful review, after the Southpaw had hit him for a six off the previous ball. The umpire gave it not out but Marsh reviewed it and the replays showed Lomror indeed got an edge.
Maxwell and Harshal Patel looked to attack Axar, hitting him for a six each in the 14th over. The DC all-rounder though hit back had to dismiss Harshal caught behind off the final ball of the over.
Warner brought back Kuldeep Yadav and he struck off the first ball, sending Maxwell (24 off 14) off his Wrong'un. He then dismissed Dinesh Karthik first ball, having him caught at deep mid-wicket which made it three wickets in three balls for DC. Kuldeep ended up bowling a wicket maiden.
RCB sent Anuj Rawat as their Impact Player, replacing Mahipal Lomror. Kuldeep and Lalit pulled things back and gave away just 12 runs in the three-over phase between 15-17 overs. Lalit finished with excellent figures of 4-0-29-1 and Kuldeep finished with impressive figures of 4-1-23-2.
RCB had a mixed finish to the innings as they garnered 12 off Mustafizur but could only accumulate 16 off Nortje's last two overs as they posted 174/6. Anuj Rawat remained unbeaten on 15(22) while Shahbaz Ahmed remained not out on 20 (12).
DC introduced Prithvi Shaw as their Impact player, replacing Mustafizur Rahman, at the start of their chase.
