Royal Challengers Bengaluru recovered from early jitters in the chase of 163 to post their sixth away victory in as many fixtures, in Delhi. Krunal Pandya (73* off 47) and Virat Kohli (51 off 47) added 119 for the fourth wicket to change the complexion of the game and set up a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals that thrust RCB to the zenith of the table.
What was the deciding factor?
While DC struggled to no end against the RCB spin twins Krunal and Suyash Sharma, RCB’s duo of Krunal and Kohli managed to handle spin better and proceeded to dominate one of the sharper bowling units of this season in this key passage of play.
Hazlewood continues to be frugal in the PowerPlay
Faf du Plessis looked apprehensive at the top but Abishek Porel, not so much. The young left-hander took the attack to Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a couple of sixes to lay down the marker on a surface where stroke-making wasn’t a child’s play. Josh Hazlewood saw the back of the southpaw, who tried to pull the ball away and edged behind. Karun Nair exited upon miscuing a big hit against Yash Dayal in the fifth over. Hazlewood was at his penny-pinching best in the PowerPlay yet again, taking his tally of dots in the period to 100 in the season, his economy rate of 7.22 second best only to RR’s Sandeep Sharma.
DC hit a massive roadblock against spin
RCB had two slow-starters occupying the crease in the middle overs – Du Plessis and Rahul – and the environment got further claustrophobic as spin was introduced from both ends. Suyash Sharma came up with an over of five singles, and then Krunal gave away just six runs, courtesy of smart length- and pace-variation. When Du Plessis eventually decided to bite the bullet, he found Virat Kohli in the deep for a laborious 26-ball 22. Axar Patel arrived at No.5 with the motto to murder spin but Rajat Patidar quickly shuffled his bowlers around. Krunal caught the DC captain by surprise with his inventive bouncer – delivered at over 119kmph. Axar also found that the pitch wasn’t conducive to hitting through the line, and eventually had his middle-stump dismantled by Hazlewood. Suyash returned 0/22 while Krunal conceded 28 in his four overs.
Six first, timber next 💪
Axar Patel clears the ropes but Josh Hazlewood clears the middle stump 👊
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Stubbs explodes but Bhuvneshwar controls the damage
Bhuvneshwar Kumar ended Rahul’s sluggish stay with a full ball that the experienced campaigner hit to Jacob Bethell at long-off to perish for a 39-ball 41. At 118/5 in the 17th over, DC activated their impact substitute, Ashutosh Sharma. In the same over however, Bhuvneshwar castled Ashutosh with a well-disguised slower ball. Tristan Stubbs and Vipraj Nigam helped DC get back on their feet after the double whammy by fetching 36 runs in two overs, delivered by Hazlewood and Yash Dayal. Nigam upper cut the on-song Aussie for a six over third man while Stubbs executed two imperious strokes against Dayal – first a straight drive for a four and then a premeditated reverse ramp for a six off a dying full toss. Bhuvneshwar brought an end to Stubbs’ fireworks, giving away just eight runs for three wickets in his two overs at the death.
Axar jolts Royal Challengers Bangalore early
Virat Kohli and his new opening partner Jacob Bethell attacked Mitchell Starc in the second over to reap 15 off the over. Axar Patel however, quickly brought RCB back to earth with a twofold strike. As far as match-up permutations go, this was a hammer blow for RCB as two left-handers fell prey to Axar’s left-arm spin – first Bethell located Karun Nair at deep backward square leg and then Devdutt Padikkal chopped on. Rajat Patidar, RCB’s designated spin basher, had to leave in the fifth over when an episode of miscommunication with Kohli led to his run out, powered by Nair’s direct hit. At this delicate stage, Krunal joined Kohli as they dragged RCB to an underwhelming PowerPlay score.
A middle patch of two halves for RCB
Nigam leaked 12 runs in the seventh over but beyond that, Krunal and Kohli still needed their time to lock in. Between two fine Kuldeep Yadav overs lay one from Dushmantha Chameera, where Krunal slammed a six and yet only nine runs were collected. Kuldeep kept a tight lid on the scoring as the asking rate continued to climb. The turning point of the chase came in the 13th over, where Krunal smashed an erring Mukesh for two sixes to release the pressure a wee bit. Krunal then sent a tossed up ball from Kuldeep over cover in the next over before uncorking an excellent sweep against Axar in the 15th to bring up his 38-ball fifty.
Kohli walks back, but Tim David finishes off
RCB headed into the death overs needing 49 off 30 but Kohli brought the equation down to 38 off 24 with a four off Starc. Krunal took the attack to the under-fire Mukesh, garnering successive boundaries, while Kohli accomplished his sixth half-century off the season. Chameera tried to inflict a twist in the tale by getting Kohli caught at deep extra cover off a change-up, but Tim David walked out to nip any such aspirations in the bud. Axar opted to assign Mukesh the penultimate over with 17 to defend, in the hope that Starc could conjure some slog-overs magic. David, although, didn’t let the chase slide into nervy territory as he went 6, 4, 4, 4 to take his team home.
