Royal Challengers Bengaluru have had an excellent campaign away from home so far in this IPL. At Virat Kohli’s home ground too, their impressive away run continued as they prevailed over the Delhi Capitals by six wickets at the Kotla on Sunday to go atop the points table.
Kohli (51 off 47 balls), scoring yet another half-century to become the highest run-getter this edition (with 443 runs), shared a game-changing 119-run fourth-wicket partnership with Krunal Pandya (73 not out off 47 balls) that eventually earned RCB a smart victory on a tricky surface.
In response to the Capitals’ 162/8, after they were put in, RCB reached the target with nine balls remaining.
This is a win that the Rajat Patidar-led side will cherish, especially as they missed the services of the unwell Phil Salt and after being three down for 26 in the fourth over.
Apart from the RCB unit being all smiles, the result should also make Kolkata Knight Riders feel a little more comfortable going into Tuesday’s game against the under-pressure Capitals at the Kotla.
Stand to savour
Skipper Axar Patel, opening the bowling for the Capitals, began brilliantly with the scalps of Jacob Bethell, who came in place of his countrymate Salt, and Devdutt Padikkal. Making matters worse for RCB, a direct throw from Karun Nair sent captain Patidar back.
The pressure then got doubled on Kohli, who was joined by Krunal. Hardik’s elder brother, who earlier did well with the ball (1/28) taking the wicket of comeback man Faf du Plessis, looked a tad scratchy early on before the Capitals’ spinners.
Kuldeep Yadav troubled Krunal with his lengths on certain occasions. But a solid Kohli at the other end, with a better knowledge of the Kotla conditions than most of the players who were part of Sunday’s game, kept guiding Krunal.
Growing in confidence, Krunal chanced his arms when Mukesh Kumar erred in length, slamming the pacer for back-to-back sixes in the 13th over of the run chase. RCB had gained the much-needed momentum with those two sixes, and they didn’t look back thereafter.
The strokes then flowed from Krunal’s bat, while Kohli, who didn’t hit a single six, looked after the strike rotation part just as well as he has been doing all these years.
Such confident was Krunal at that stage that he even dealt Kuldeep with ease at that stage, ensuring the chinaman bowler finished wicketless.
For a change, Kohli couldn’t take his side home as he perished at the deep, with RCB needing another 18 off the last 13 balls.
But Tim David made sure there was no way back for the Capitals as he smoked an erring Mukesh for a six and three boundaries to seal the deal in the penultimate over.
Accuracy matters
Earlier, given the performances of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/33) and Josh Hazlewood (2/36), it was a show of their accuracy and discipline. Though Hazlewood was expensive in his final over, going for 17, he proved again as to how valuable he has been for RCB so far in their campaign this season.
Senior pro Bhuvneshwar was again costly as he was taken for runs by Abishek Porel in the Powerplay. But before Porel could do further damage, Hazlewood’s trusted back-of-a-length stuff was good enough to trump the keeper-batter as his innings was cut short.
That Porel dismissal was vital for RCB as the Capitals’ run rate gradually came down to just a little above seven per over. Just as KL Rahul and Axar were looking to stitch a partnership and regain some momentum, Hazlewood struck again.
Pitching it right on the spot with a middle-and-leg-stump line, Hazlewood knocked over Axar’s middle stump in the 14th over to peg the Capitals back again. With 18 wickets in his kitty, Hazlewood is now the highest wicket-taker in this IPL.
To talk about Bhuvneshwar, he proved he still has something left in the tank. Carted for 25 off his first two overs, the former India quick conceded only eight off his last two with the vital scalps of KL Rahul, Impact Player Ashutosh and Tristan Stubbs. Bhuvneshwar mixed it up masterfully to outsmart the batters.
Like Hazlewood, Bhuvneshwar also bowled 10 dot balls. And dot balls for bowlers in T20 cricket is worth in gold.