Against his former team, on his home ground, KL Rahul played a masterful knock of 93 off 53 balls on what looked like a tricky pitch to bat on, helping his team chase down the target of 164 with relative ease and win the game by six wickets. Phil Salt’s blazing innings of 37 at the start, small contributions from other batters and Tim David’s fiery unbeaten 37 somehow propelled RCB past 160, but that didn’t prove to be enough as a bit of rain kept the ball wet, which helped the batting, as the ball was coming onto the bat more nicely in the second innings compared to the first.
Rahul’s innings was the game-changer, contributing more than half of his team’s total at a venue he calls his home. Right from the beginning, he looked to be in control, building on the confidence of his previous match’s half-century. His footwork against both pace and spin was flawless, and his ability to pick boundaries at regular intervals was the key. Throughout his innings, he never looked troubled and paced his innings beautifully.
While DC lost their top-order batters cheaply, with three of them dismissed for single-digit scores in the Powerplay and captain Axar Patel falling for just 15, it was Rahul who steadied the ship. He combined with Tristan Stubbs (38 not out) to put together a match-winning 111-run partnership. Although DC spinners claimed four wickets, RCB’s spin department struggled, taking only one wicket in total. On the bowling front, apart from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the pacers proved to be expensive in a game where they didn’t have many runs in the bank.
Earlier, it was one of those nights when Phil Salt looked unstoppable. The Englishman was in sublime touch, dismantling the Delhi Capitals’ bowling attack right from the outset. Even Mitchell Starc — who has been picking wickets for fun this season — was not spared, conceding a whopping 30 runs in his second over as Salt launched a brutal assault. RCB raced to 53 runs in the first three overs, with Virat Kohli playing second fiddle, cautiously scoring 6 off 5 balls.
However, the momentum came to a screeching halt in the fourth over when Salt was run out. The last two overs of the Powerplay yielded just two runs, including a brilliant maiden wicket over by Mukesh Kumar. Things worsened for RCB as Devdutt Padikkal departed soon after for just 1. Then came the big blow — Kohli (22) fell right after the Powerplay, mistiming a lofted shot off Vipraj Nigam straight to long-off.
Kohli’s wicket proved that there was assistance for the spinners. Kuldeep Yadav came in and made an impact with two wickets in his crafty four over spell — both big ones; Jitesh Sharma and Rajat Patidar. He mixed his pace and lengths brilliantly, finishing with two crucial wickets while keeping the run flow in check. Alongside him, Nigam was equally effective, further stalling RCB’s momentum. Axar, however, had an off day, leaking 52 runs in his four overs.
After Krunal Pandya’s dismissal, RCB were reeling at 125/7. It took a late flourish from David to push the total to a competitive one. Interestingly, none of DC’s pacers completed their quota of four overs, as Axar smartly rotated his bowlers on a pitch that kept the batters guessing.