Delhi Capitals put up an impressive performance with the ball as well as with the bat, as they ended their four-match losing streak with a six-wicket victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Monday and reach the Playoffs placed second in the points table.
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Put into bat first after losing the toss, the Royal Challengers Bangalore got off to a decent start, despite losing their opener Josh Philippe early.
Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli added 57 runs for the second wicket, and just as Virat(29 off 24) was looking to press on the pedal, he was dismissed in the 13th over, as he picked out Marcus Stoinis in the deep of Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling.
Young Padikkal(50 off 41) once again showed promise with the bat as he brought up his fifth half-century of the season, before he was dismissed clean bowled by a fiery quick 152kmph delivery coming down from Anrich Nortje.
Chris Morris quickly followed Padikkal just two balls later without troubling the scorers, thus leaving RCB in a spot of bother with 112/4 on the board after 16 overs.
AB de Villiers looked good for his quick 21-ball-35, but was runout trying to sneak in a quick double and retain strike in the final over of the innings.
It was a bit of an anti-climax for the Royal Challengers with the Delhi Capitals bowlers, particularly Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje pulling things back extremely well and restricting the Royal Challengers to a modest total of 152/7 at the end of their 20 overs, after the Royal Challengers looked comfortably set for a big total with 80 odd runs in the 12-over mark and nine wickets in hand.
Coming out to chase a pretty modest total, Delhi Capitals lost their opener Prithvi Shaw in the second over itself, who got completely beaten by a gorgeous outgoing delivery from Mohammed Siraj and was clean bowled.
Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane added 88 runs for the second wicket and took Delhi to a comfortable position in the run chase.
Shikhar Dhawan after a very well put-together 54 off 41 was dismissed by Shahbaz Ahmed in the 13th over.
Ajinkya Rahane played an important innings bringing up his first half-century of the season as he controlled the Delhi innings with ease following Shikhar’s dismissal. Rahane was finally dismissed for 60 in the 18th over trying to play a reverse sweep off Washington Sundar.
The wicket of Ajinkya Rahane came a bit too late for the Royal Challengers as Delhi needed just 17 runs off 16 balls and Delhi eventually managed to chase it down with six wickets and six balls to spare.
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Both Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore have now qualified for the Playoffs. Delhi Capitals will face Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 1 while Royal Challengers Bangalore will either play Kolkata Knight Riders or Sunrisers Hyderabad in the eliminator.
SCORECARD
Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) – 152/7 (20/20 overs)
BATTING
Devdutt Padikkal 50(41)
AB de Villiers 35(21)
BOWLING
Anrich Nortje 3/33(4)
Kagiso Rabada 2/30(4)
Delhi Capitals(DC) – 154/4(19/20 overs)
BATTING
Ajinkya Rahane 60(46)
Shikhar Dhawan 54(41)
BOWLING
Shahbaz Ahmed 2/26(4)
Washington Sundar 1/24(4)
DC WON BY 6 WICKETS
Man of the Match – Anrich Nortje
Dream11 Game Changer of the Match – Ajinkya Rahane
Tata Altroz Super Striker of the Match – AB de Villiers
Unacademy Let’s crack it Sixes – AB de Villiers
Cred Power Player – Devdutt Padikkal
TODAY’S MATCH – Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Mumbai Indians
Venue – Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Toss – 7pm IST
Match Time – 7:30pm IST
Match can be viewed on the Star Sports Network and the Disney + Hotstar VIP subscription
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