Rabada, Stoinis, Axar star in Delhi’s big win over RCB
Dubai: South African speedster Kagiso Rabada made a big impact as he snared four wickets to propel Delhi Capitals (DC) to a 59-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and helped his team zoom to the top of the IPL points table here on Monday.
Rabada, along with Man-of-the-Match Axar Patel, effectively restricted RCB to 137 for nine wickets in 20 overs. Earlier, RCB captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bowl, but his bowlers failed to check DC batsmen as they posted 196 for four wickets in 20 overs.
DC now have eight points from five games, ahead of Mumbai Indians and RCB, who have six points each.
After putting up a decent total on board, thanks to Marcus Stoinis’ 53 not out (26 balls, 6x4s, 2x6s), and some valuable top-order contributions, DC bowlers came all guns blazing to defend the target.
Rabada set the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on fire with stunning figures of 4/24 and received good support from compatriot Anrich Nortje (2/22), Axar (2/18), and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/26).
Chasing the target, RCB suffered a top-order collapse, losing opener Devdutt Padikkal (4), Aaron Finch (13) and AB de Villiers (9) with just 43 runs on board in 5.5 overs.
While Ashwin sent back Padikkal, Axar Patel and Nortje accounted for the wicket of Finch and de Villiers respectively.
Kohli (43) and Moeen Ali (11) tried to stabilise the innings with a brief 32-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Axar, however, didn’t let the partnership develop as this time he struck to send back Ali in the 12th over. And after RCB had managed another 19 through Kohli and Washington Sundar (17), Rabada dismissed the RCB captain who tried to accelerate the run-rate. He fell seven short of his half-century. Kohli’s fall left RCB reeling at 94/5 in 13.3 overs.
Rabada struck again in the 16th over, sending back Sundar, before ShivanDube (11), too, became a victim of the South African quick in the 18th over.
Two balls later, Rabada dismissed Isuru Udana (1), leaving RCB reeling at 119/8 in 17.3 overs. Nortje, too, joined the party as he clean bowled Mohammed Siraj in the penultimate over when RCB were still 70 runs away from the target.
Navdeep Saini (12) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0) remained unbeaten, but couldn’t stop DC from sealing a comfortable victory.
Earlier, some valuable top-order contributions followed by Marcus Stoinis’s cameo (53 unbeaten off 26 balls) helped DC post a respectable 196/4 in the allotted 20 overs.
Apart from Stoinis, opener Prithvi Shaw and wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant chipped in with 42 and 37 runs respectively.
Asked to bat, DC openers Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan (32) handed a flying start to their side, adding 63 runs for the first wicket in the initial six overs.
RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj came with the first breakthrough, dismissing Shaw in the next over. The DC opener’s knock contained five boundaries and two sixes.
Dhawan once again failed to convert a good start as he became a victim of IsuruUdana in the 10th over, which left DC at 82/2. Just after DC managed another eight runs, RCB off-spinner Moeen Ali dismissed DC skipper Shreyas Iyer (11) cheaply.
However, Pant and Stoinis rescued their side with an 89-run stand, denying the RCB from making anymore inroads. While Pant rotated the strike, Stoinis was on in a murderous mood right from the start.
Siraj finally broke the partnership, sending back Pant in the 19th over. However, the damage was already done. Four balls later, Stoinis smashed Siraj for a boundary to notch up his second half-century of the ongoing season.
Next batsman Shimron Hetmyer (11 not out) and Stoinis collected 12 runs off the final over to help DC post a competitive total.
For RCB, Siraj picked two wickets for 34 runs while Udana and Moeen settled for one each.
Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 196/4 wkts in 20 overs (M Stoinis 53 not out, P Shaw 42, M Siraj 2/34) beat RCB 137/9 wkts (Virat Kohli 43, Washington Sundar 17; KagisoRabada 4/24) by 59 runs
