It was a must-win game for Delhi Capitals and they won the battle in style by 7 wickets at home. Royal Challengers Bangalore opted to bat first and scored a respectable total of 181 runs in their 20 overs.
The Bangalore-based franchise started off well with Virat Kohli and skipper Faf du Plessis firing from both ends. They had a partnership of 82 runs for the first wicket before du Plessis lost his wicket to Mitchell Marsh. In-form batsman Glenn Maxwell got out for a golden duck with Kohli needing someone to support him from the other end.
It was the southpaw Mahipal Lomror who built the partnership of 55 runs alongside Kohli. As the innings was progressing smoothly, the former skipper was sent back to the dugout by Mukesh Kumar in the 16th over leaving behind Lomror at the pitch.
The 23-year-old showed his class and completed his maiden IPL half-century to take the team’s total to 181. There were expectations from the veteran Dinesh Karthik, however, the right-hander got out for just 11 with the help of one maximum.
It was Kohli’s sixth half-century in this year’s tournament but his innings went in vain. Mahipal Lomror’s maiden IPL fifty must have been a memorable one for the southpaw but the Rajasthan player couldn’t help his side register a victory at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Virat Kohli scored a half-cntury at his home ground against Delhi Capitals
On the other hand, the bowling unit of Delhi impressed a lot with Axar Patel and Mitchell Marsh showing their class at the small ground. Marsh picked up two crucial wickets of du Plessis and Maxwell whereas Axar gave away just 17 runs in his 3 overs. Though 181 is not a bad total in a T20 game, it is not much difficult to chase on a ground like Delhi.
Now, keeping in mind the small ground, the RCB bowlers had to do a lot of effort to win the game but they couldn’t manage to impress their fans on Saturday. Skipper du Plessis used seven bowlers in their innings and none of them impressed their captain. Though Josh Hazlewood, Karn Sharma and Harshal Patel picked up a wicket each, all three of them went for a lot in their spells.
Talking about Delhi Capitals’ batting, skipper David Warner got a start but fell for 22 runs with the help of three boundaries and one six. It was Philip Salt who single-handedly took the match away from the RCB with his marvellous innings of 87 runs. He got support from Rilee Rossouw as the South African played an unbeaten innings of 35 runs off just 22 balls.
Because of his match-winning innings, Philip Salt was awarded the Player of the Match trophy. However, all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was equally good with both bat and ball. He scored a quickfire 26 runs off just 17 deliveries. The Capitals won the battle in the 17th over which not only gave them a victory but also improved their net run rate going forward.
After the win, Delhi Capitals have moved to the ninth spot in the points table leaving behind Sunrisers Hyderabad. David Warner & Co. have four victories out of 10 matches and are still in contention for making it to the playoffs.
The Capitals cannot afford to lose a single game from here else their journey would come to an end. They are now left with four games, two each with Punjab Kings and Chennai Super Kings but if they could win their next couple of matches, they might be in a position to reach the playoffs.
On the other hand, Royal Challengers Bangalore are at the fifth spot and are set to compete against Mumbai Indians in their next battle at Wankhede Stadium on Tuesday.