Delhi Capitals’ KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs staged a superb recovery before David Miller provided the finishing touches as the side pulled off a thrilling six-wicket victory with one ball remaining at the Chinnaswamy in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar provided Royal Challengers Bengaluru with a rollicking start with three wickets in his first two overs in the Powerplay as DC slipped to 18/3 in the third over. But Rahul and Stubbs put up a valiant 69-run partnership off 44 balls to give them a chance.
With 13 needed off the final four balls, Miller smashed Romario Shepherd for two sixes and a boundary to finish it off for the Capitals with one ball to spare. This was RCB’s second defeat in IPL 2026 and their first at home.
Considering the slow nature of the Chinnaswamy wicket and the quality in RCB’s bowling ranks, the chase of 176 was never going to be easy.
The Capitals found saviours at various times, in Rahul (57 off 34 balls), Stubbs (60 not out off 47) and Axar Patel (24 retired hurt), to reach 179/4 ending a two-match losing streak.
Rahul played an innings of rare quality, a bit un-T20 if you may, to rescue the Capitals from a disastrous start and
set the chase in order. He
took a particular liking for Josh Hazlewood, carving him for a total of two sixes and three fours.
In fact, both his sixes were of amazing quality —
the first one an inside out lofted shot over covers and the second a flick, which he executed through a last minute snap of wrist.
He reached his half-century in 30 balls but fell to Krunal Pandya, hitting the spinner into the hands of a diving Virat Kohli at long-on.
Miller said it “feels really good” after making amends for his recent failure and having faced sharp criticism
for not being able to finish
the chase against Gujarat Titans when they needed just two off two balls in their previous match.
“Feels really good. After that game the other night, was a disappointing game, but to get it done today feels good.
It’s always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game,” Miller said after the match.
“Mentally just trying to stay in the moment and do what I can. They bowled six yorkers to me and I couldn’t really get going but chuffed it came off in the last six overs.”
Miller also credited Man of the Match Stubbs for
keeping the belief alive during the tense chase.
“We wanted to try and finish it in the second-to-last over always, but with as many runs needed, we knew we needed one or two sixes. So we
just tried to limit the dot balls and take the boundary balls,” he said.
“There were lot of breaks in the game so our minds were a bit all over the place. When I walked out, Stubbo said to me to keep the intensity really high and that helped. Always good finishing off games with Stubbo… for him being there was massive for us.”
Earlier, despite Phil Salt’s well-crafted 63, the Capitals restricted RCB’s batting unit with disciplined bowling. Their start was anything but smooth as the Capitals bowlers stuck to a good line in the first four overs.
Kohli (19), who added 52 with Salt, played a couple of delectable shots off
pacer Mukesh Kumar before being dismissed.
