While Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru chase down a meagre target of 76 against the Delhi Capitals, it was a victory that was set up by the bowlers. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood put up jaw-dropping performances as RCB registered a Net run-rate boosting win over the Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.ย
Bhuvi, Hazlewood plot DC’s downfall
Bengaluru arrived in Delhi in a bid to redeem their loss at home against the Capitals, and they did that in one of the most unthinkable fashions. It was a perfect bowling effort from RCB as Bhuvneshwar and Hazlewood made the ball swing and rip apart the DC batting attack. After opting to bowl first, the RCB bowlers wreaked havoc, with Bhuvneshwar Kumar getting a wicket on the second ball of the match. He cleaned up debutant Sahil Parakh with a brilliant swinging delivery.
Hazlewood followed suit as he bounced off KL Rahul for Jitesh Sharma to grab it. Things turned uglier when the hosts were six down for just eight on the board as Bhuvi and Hazlewood took three wickets each. Hazlewood removed Sameer Rizvi caught behind before Tristan Stubbs poked in an away swinger from Bhuvi to get caught at slips. Axar Patel was nicked behind by Bhuvi as DC called Abhishek Porel in SOS impact sub call. The decision paid dividends as he was the highest scorer for DC, but not before the hara-kiri that DC had committed, going down to 8/6 in 3.5 overs.
Porel the only saving grace for DC
In what was a shameful outing for the batters, Porel was the only saving grace for them. After DC were reeling at 13/6 post the powerplay, Porel led the charge with the bat and scored 30 from 33 balls. The top six batters combined for just seven runs.ย David Miller and Porel stitched a 35-run stand for the seventh wicket. While Miller was bounced out by Rasikh, Porel carried on a bit. He had a 19-run association for the eighth wicket with Kyle Jamieson before adding nine for the ninth with Kuldeep Yadav. His wicket was the final one to fall when Hazlewood cleaned him up.
Kohli, Padikkal power team in chase
While the things were set with the ball, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal led the charge in the meagre chase. Playing in place of the injured Phil Salt, Jacob Bethell took the bowlers to the attack early in the chase. He made 20 from 11 balls with two sixes and a four before being caught brilliantly by T Natarajan in the deep. Padikkal and Kohli joined hands with the former, launching an attack and making a mockery of the chase. He continued his impressive rise and made 34 from 13 balls, while Kohli made 23 from 15 with two sixes, with the second one taking the team home, during a knock where Kohli breached the 9000-run mark too.
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