Bengaluru: The craftiness of spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam echoed in the assiduous unbeaten 93 of KL Rahul as Delhi Capitals overcame a top-order meltdown to score a six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here on Thursday.
Once the Royal Challengers were restricted to 163/7, the Capitals just needed to bat with common sense but it was a rare commodity in their frontline batters on the night.
But the Player-of-the-Match Rahul, whose knock came off 53 balls with seven fours and six sixes, added 111 runs for the fourth wicket with an equally level-headed Tristan Stubbs (38 not out) to score their fourth victory on the bounc as DC made 169/4. Rahul’s innings was a prime example of risk management as he started at a slower tempo before shifting the gears seamlessly.
The way Rahul, who was dropped on five by Rajat Patidar off Yash Dayal, dealt with leg-spinner Suyansh Sharma and pacer Josh Hazlewood underlined his intelligent approach. He was prudent against Suyansh, waiting for his chances to score runs on a sluggish track and carted him for a lone six — a sweep over mid-wicket.
But once Hazlewood returned for his second spell, Rahul used the extra pace to good effect to manufacture big shots such as a scorching six over the bowlers’ head.
Stubbs too joined his partners with a couple of lovely straight hits off Bhuvneshwar to the fence as DC strolled home.
However, they had a horror start to the chase as Faf du Plessis, who came
back for this match after missing the game against Chennai Super Kings with a niggle, skied Dayal for
Rajat Patidar to complete a fine catch. The mode of dismissal echoed twice soon as Jake-Fraser McGurk and Abhishek Porel walked back to the shed in the same manner.
Brief scores: RCB: 163/7 in 20 overs (Salt 37, David 37 not out; Nigam 2/18, Kuldeep 2/17); DC: 169/4 in 17.5 overs (Rahul 93*, Stubbs 38*;
Bhuvneshwar 2/26).