Left-arm fast-bowler Yash Dayal took 3-20 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat Delhi Capitals by 47 runs to register their fifth successive win in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 and stay in contention for a playoffs spot at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday evening (12 May).
After an 88-run partnership off 53 balls for the third wicket between Rajat Patidar (52) and Will Jacks (41), along with Cameron Green’s 32 not out, took RCB to 187/9, Dayal led a superb bowlers’ show on a slightly two-paced pitch to bowl out DC for 140.
Despite DC giving away 49 runs in the last five overs of RCB’s innings, they could never recover from the setback of losing four wickets in the Power-play. Stand-in captain Axar Patel's 57 off 39 balls kept Delhi Capitals in the hunt, but he found little support from other batters, as dropping four catches in the first innings came back to haunt them.
Sunday’s result means both RCB and DC are on 12 points, but the former are now in fifth place in the points table with a positive net run rate, as compared to the latter now in sixth position with a negative net run rate.
DC didn’t have an ideal start to their chase as a returning David Warner hit straight to long-on off Swapnil Singh in the opening over. It turned for worse as Yash Dayal bounced out Abishek Porel off his first ball, while Jake Fraser-McGurk, after hitting four boundaries, was run-out from non-striker's end as Dayal, in his follow-through, got a finger on the straight drive from Shai Hope to catch him out of the crease.
When Kumar Kushagra was trapped plumb lbw by Mohammed Siraj, DC were reduced to 30/4 in 3.3 overs. Shai Hope launched a fightback by creaming Yash Dayal for three fours, while Axar hit two boundaries off Siraj as DC ended the Power-play at 54/4. Though Axar hit some boundaries, RCB were able to keep DC on a leash.
That pressure to get big runs resulted in Hope going for a slog off a full-toss by Lockie Ferguson, but he could only toe-end it towards deep mid-wicket. A miscommunication between Axar and Tristan Stubbs resulted in the latter being run out by a direct hit from Cameron Green at the bowler’s end.
Axar continued to keep DC in the hunt by slog-sweeping Karn Sharma once and Will Jacks twice, leading to him reaching his second fifty of the season in 30 balls. But DC's hopes of chasing were dashed when Rasikh Salam toe-ended a chip to long-on off Green and Axar’s heave resulted in a top-edge caught by tumbling backward point off Green. Ferguson and Dayal took out the remaining two wickets to ensure RCB gave its faithful fans lots of cheers.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 187/9 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 52, Will Jacks 41; Rasikh Salam 2-23, Khaleel Ahmed 2-31) beat Delhi Capitals 140 all out in 19.1 overs (Axar Patel 57; Yash Dayal 3-20, Lockie Ferguson 2-23) by 47 runs
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)