Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) moved to the top of the points table after they held their nerves to pull off a one-run victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) in Match 22 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. AB de Villiers scored a match-winning 75* that powered RCB to a competitive total before the bowlers defended the target in a final-over thriller.
Chasing a challenging total of 171, DC openers – Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan – got off to a flying start, scoring 22 off the first two overs after Shaw, backed by his wonderful timing, smashed three fours off Mohammed Siraj. Kyle Jamieson came into the bowl the third over of the innings and found success as Dhawan deposited a short delivery straight to Yuzvendra Chahal at third man.
In the very next over, Siraj got rid of Steve Smith after the right-hander nicked one back to the keeper and DC were 43/2 after the end of the powerplay as Shaw was joined by the DC skipper, Rishabh Pant.
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RCB capitalized on the two early wickets and put pressure on the DC pair with dot balls. Harshal Patel was given the responsibility of bowling the eighth over and he managed to dismiss Shaw, who tried to chase a wide delivery outside off stumps and edged it to de Villiers behind the stumps.
Marcus Stoinis joined Pant in the middle and the Delhi Capitals had a huge task ahead of them. The pair kept rotating the strike but could not find the occasional boundary as DC was struggling at 62/3 at the 10-over mark. DC started accelerating after the 12th overs as Stoinis and Pant smacked two fours each off the bowling of Washington Sundar and Harshal Patel. But, the right-arm seamer bounced back in style with a wicket after Stonis edged one to de Villiers, who took his third catch of the innings.
Shimron Hetmyer was the next man in, and the left-hander was on the attack after smashing a four and six each against Siraj as DC required 61 off the last five overs. Jamieson conceded only 5 runs off his third over and DC was under immense pressure. But, Hetmyer was striking them big after he clubbed three sixes off the 18th over by Jamieson as DC required 25 off the final two overs. The left-hander reached his half-century off only 23 deliveries.
DC scored 11 in the penultimate over after Pant got a timely four and DC required 14 off the final over. Siraj bowled the final over and conceded only 4 runs off his first four deliveries. While Pant smashed two fours off the final two deliveries and got to his fifty, DC fell short of a victory by 1 run, requiring 6 off the final delivery.
Earlier, RCB, who were put in to bat first, made two changes – Rajat Patidar and Daniel Sams replaced Navdeep Saini and Daniel Christian respectively. RCB openers – Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli – creamed a four each facing Kagiso Rabada’s inswingers and were off to a good start, with 16/0 after 2 overs.
Padikkal was given an early life after Axar Patel dropped a difficult skier in the third over. However, the RCB openers were back in the hut after two brilliant deliveries from Avesh Khan and Ishant Sharma to dismiss skipper Kohli and Padikkal respectively. While the RCB skipper chopped on to a delivery close to the stumps, Padikkal completely missed the delivery that went on to hit the stumps.
Maxwell, who was in next, hit his first boundary as RCB were 36/2 after the end of the powerplay. The right-hander then smacked two huge sixes in the next two overs against Amit Mishra and Axar, developing an important partnership for the third wicket with Patidar on the other end. Maxwell went for the slog again but holed out to Smith at long-on, off Amit Mishra in the 9th over. Patidar was joined by de Villiers, and RCB was 68/3 at the halfway mark of the first innings.
RCB scored 11 off the next over after Patidar tonked Mishra for a six down the ground. de Villiers and Patidar stitched a vital partnership in the middle and kept the pressure on the DC bowlers. Patidar then hooked Ishant Sharma for a six, who was back to bowl the 14th over.
de Villiers, on the other hand, lofted Axar for a maximum but the left-arm spinner broke the important partnership after Patidar was caught by Smith, who took a fine catch in the deep. Sundar joined de Villiers in the middle as the RCB wicketkeeper-batsman continued the boundaries flowing and reached his milestone of 5000 IPL runs.
The right-hander pulled Rabada over deep mid-wicket for a maximum before the pacer dismissed Sundar, taking a simple catch off his own bowling. The fifty was up for de Villiers in the penultimate over as he reached his half-century with a four.
de Villiers finished the innings in style, scoring 23 runs off the last over bowled by Stonis as he clobbered 3 sixes in 3 separate parts of the ground guiding RCB to a commanding total of 171-5 after 20 overs.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/5 (AB de Villiers 75*, Rajat Patidar 31; Avesh Khan 1/24 ) beat Delhi Capitals 170-4 (Rishabh Pant 58*, Shimron Hetmyer 53*; Harshal Patel 2/37) by 1 run.
