Indian Premier League | Pacers drive Royal Challengers to an eventual comfortable win over the Capitals

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) got back to winning ways, beating Delhi Capitals (DC) by 23 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Saturday.

Asked to bat first, the home side made 174 — a score which seemed underwhelming at the break — before its bowlers made it an evening to remember. For DC though, the agony piled, for it was a fifth consecutive defeat.

With appreciable swing and seam movement, RCB pacers reduced the visitors to two for three. Prithvi Shaw was run out by a brilliant throw from cover by an off-balance Anuj Rawat. Mitchell Marsh was caught off a leading edge and Yash Dhull trapped in front by Mohammed Siraj.

David Warner (19, 13b) hit Siraj for a hat-trick of fours, but soon miscued a pull to became local lad V. Vyshak’s maiden IPL victim. The right-arm pacer went on to scalp the in-form Axar Patel, and eventually finished with impressive figures of 4-0-20-3 on debut.

Manish Pandey resisted (50, 38b, 5×4, 1×6), but the contest was virtually over when Wanindu Hasaranga got a leg-before decision overturned to send the Karnataka batter back.

Earlier, RCB rode on Virat Kohli’s 50 (34b, 6×4, 1×6) but had a forgettable PowerPlay, scoring just 47 runs and struggling against spin (16 runs from three overs).

Kohli got things moving, slapping Kuldeep Yadav for a four, creaming Mustafizur Rahman past long-off and flicking the left-arm pacer for a six before bringing up his half-century (33b).

But he fell to Lalit Yadav in the 11th over, hitting a full toss straight to deep mid-wicket. Not long after, Kuldeep removed Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik off consecutive deliveries, with the former foxed by a googly.

With RCB 132 for six, Rawat was brought in as the Impact Player. Runs didn’t come at a fast clip — only four boundaries in the last six overs — but the 42-run partnership with Shahbaz Ahmed provided the RCB bowlers enough cushion to wreak havoc later.

SCOREBOARD:

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Virat Kohli c Dhull b Lalit 50 (34b, 6×4, 1×6), Faf du Plessis c Aman b Marsh 22 (16b, 3×4, 1×6), Mahipal Lomror c Porel b Marsh 26 (18b, 2×6), Glenn Maxwell c Warner b Kuldeep 24 (14b, 3×6), Harshal Patel c Porel b Axar 6 (4b, 1×6), Shahbaz Ahmed (not out) 20 (12b, 3×4), Dinesh Karthik c Lalit b Kuldeep 0 (1b), Anuj Rawat (Impact Player in place of Mahipal Lomror) (not out) 15 (22b, 1×4); Extras (b-1, lb-6, nb-1, w-3): 11; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 174.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-42 (du Plessis, 4.4 overs), 2-89 (Kohli, 10.1), 3-117 (Lomror, 12.3), 4-132 (Harshal, 13.6), 5-132 (Maxwell, 14.1), 6-132 (Karthik, 14.2).

CAPITALS BOWLING

Nortje 4-0-31-0, Axar 3-0-25-1, Mustafizur 3-0-41-0, Marsh 2-0-18-2, Lalit 4-0-29-1, Kuldeep 4-1-23-2.

DELHI CAPITALS

David Warner c Kohli b Vyshak 19 (13b, 4×4), Prithvi Shaw (Impact Player in place of Mustafizur Rahman) (run out) 0 (2b), Mitchell Marsh c Kohli b Parnell 0 (4b), Yash Dhull lbw b Siraj 1 (4b), Manish Pandey lbw b Hasaranga 50 (38b, 5×4, 1×6), Abhishek Porel c Parnell b Harshal 5 (8b), Axar Patel c Siraj b Vyshak 21 (14b, 3×4), Aman Khan c Kohli b Siraj 18 (10b, 1×4, 1×6), Lalit Yadav c Maxwell b Vyshak 4 (7b), Anrich Nortje (not out) 23 (14b, 4×4), Kuldeep Yadav (not out) 7 (6b, 1×4); Extras (w-3): 3; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 151.

FALL OF WICKETS

1-1 (Prithvi, 0.4 overs), 2-1 (Marsh, 1.4), 3-2 (Dhull, 2.2), 4-30 (Warner, 5.4), 5-53 (Porel, 8.5), 6-80 (Axar, 12.2), 7-98 (Manish, 13.6), 8-110 (Lalit, 15.5), 9-128 (Aman, 17.3).

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BOWLING

Siraj 4-0-23-2, Parnell 4-0-28-1, Vyshak 4-0-20-3, Shahbaz 1-0-11-0, Hasaranga 3-0-37-1, Harshal 4-0-32-1.

Toss: Capitals; PoM: Kohli.

Royal Challengers won by 23 runs.