Royal Challengers Bangalore’s top-order fell by the wayside as Virat Kohli and his men crashed to a 59-run defeat against Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League contest in Dubai on Sunday.
Chasing a stiff target of 197 for victory, RCB’s hope of a grandstand finish went up in smoke early in their innings and they ended with 137/9. After the heroics of Prithiv Shaw (42) and Marcus Stoinis (53no), the DC bowlers turned on the heat. Spin twins R Ashwin (1/26) and Axar Patel (2/18), replacing an injured Amit Mishra, strangulated the openers before the South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada (4/24) and Anrich Nortje (2/ 22) took over.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals thwarted a late resurgence by Kolkata Knight Riders to score an 18-run win in their IPL match here on Saturday. Shreyas Iyer showed his class with a captain's knock of 88 not out off 38 balls after Prithvi Shaw's opening act, propelling the Capitals to 228 for four. If that was not enough, Rishabh Pant (38 off 17 balls) dusted off his rustiness with a quickfire knock.
Smooth sailing for RCB
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s head coach Simon Katich recently introduced a mentorship programme in which young opener Devdutt Padikkal's (63) buddy is skipper Virat Kohli (72). Through the bonding initiative, the players exchange ideas and also spend time together even after practice and matches. The move seems to be working as Padikkal teamed up with his skipper and their 99-run second-wicket partnership set the tone for RCB’s clinical eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the first afternoon game of the IPL.
Chennai run out of gas
So often in the past, Chennai Super Kings have ended on the winning side from a seemingly hopeless situation with a late flourish. It seemed like CSK would do it again against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday night, but it wasn't to be. Needing 28 runs from the final over, CSK only managed 20 runs against rookie leggie Abdul Samad as they succumbed to a 7-run loss. MS Dhoni (47 not out off 36 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (50 off 35 balls) tried hard, but CSK's top-order problems cost them in the end.
MI tame KXIP
Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma scored a half century to help Mumbai India coast to a 48-run win over a hapless Kings XI Punjab. Mumbai took full control of the proceedings early on in the Kings XI innings with Jasprit Bumrah cleaning up the in-form Mayank Agarwal for 25 before skipper KL Rahul’s futile attempt to improvise with a lap sweep off leg-spinner Rahul Chahar only ended up in a long walk back to the dug-out. He managed 17 off 19. Chasing a challenging 192, Punjab had to depend on their untested middle order and West Indian Nicholas Pooran (44 off 27) offered some hope but with the asking rate mounting, he eventually succumbed under pressure.
