Bangalore There was no end to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) woeful run this IPL as the Virat Kohli-led side suffered their sixth straight defeat against Delhi Capitals (DC) by four wickets, here Sunday.
Being invited to bat on a tough wicket RCB batsmen were going quite well at 133/4 in 17 overs. However, South African pacer Kagiso Rabada’s (4/21) three wickets in the 18th over changed the game completely as Kohli’s boys could only manage 149/8 in the stipulated 20 overs.
Had it not been for Kohli (41, 33b, 1×4, 2×6) and Moeen Ali’s (32, 18b) contributions, RCB would have been in deep trouble. Rabada was ably supported by Chris Morris (2/28), Axar Patel (1/22) and Sandeep Lamichhane (1/46).
Shreyas Iyer (67, 50b, 8×4, 2×6) then played a captain’s knock, with a fine half century to guide DC to a comfortable win, bringing their IPL campaign back on track. The right-hander anchored the chase with some crucial partnerships as the visitors overhauled the target with 10 balls to spare.
Chasing 150 to win, Iyer forged a 68-run partnership with opener Prithvi Shaw (28) for the second wicket, before teaming up with Colin Ingram (22), to put up 39 runs for the third wicket.
However, with just five runs needed, DC survived some anxious moment losing Chris Morris (zero) and Pant – both trying to clear the in-field and perishing in the process but Axar Patel (4 n o) smashed a boundary to see his team home.
Earlier, Kohli played an uncharacteristic sedate knock. The Indian skipper was still there but the runs came only in one and twos. In nine overs, RCB scored just 53. Marcus Stoinis (15) also perished lofting one from Lamichhane over long-on. The Nepalese spinner also completed 50 wickets in T20s in the process.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/8 (Virat Kohli 41; Kagiso Rabada 4/21) lost to Delhi Capitals 152/6 (Shreyas Iyer 67; Navdeep Saini 2/24) by four wickets.
