Delhi Capitals (DC) found themselves restricted to 162 for 8 by the collective bowling efforts of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood, who claimed five scalps between them. This was further bolstered by effective middle-over spin from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on a challenging pitch.
Abishek Porel got DC off to a brisk start with a quickfire 28 off 11 balls, while Tristan Stubbs added a creative 34 from 18 towards the innings’ end. However, the other batters seemed to find no momentum, collectively scoring only 96 runs off 92 balls. Notably, Faf du Plessis, returning from injury, and KL Rahul struggled to find their rhythm, contributing 22 off 26 and 41 off 39, respectively.
The pitch wasn’t easy to manoeuvre, so DC’s target may not have been ambitious from the outset, yet two key incidents compounded their challenges. Axar Patel, who looked promising after hitting Krunal for a six, was bowled by Hazlewood in the 14th over. This breakthrough lessened the pressure on Suyash and Krunal, who were able to bowl tightly, only conceding 13 runs in the next two overs against Rahul and newcomer Stubbs.
When Bhuvneshwar sent Rahul back in the 17th over, DC opted for Ashutosh Sharma as their Impact Player. Their choice to field a bowler-heavy line-up, hoping to adjust if their top order flourished, didn’t pay off. Ashutosh, coming in amidst a faltering top order, was dismissed for a duck by Bhuvneshwar’s clever legcutter on his third ball.
Stubbs and Vipraj Nigam injected some much-needed vitality into the innings, cleverly navigating the field to add 36 runs in the 18th and 19th overs. Yet, Bhuvneshwar, delivering an excellent 20th over, curtailed their efforts. Despite RCB being handicapped by an over-rate penalty, he dismissed Stubbs and allowed just six runs, only one off the bat.
In the end, DC’s innings was characterised by a few notable individual performances but lacked overall fluency, marking it a day where bat met ball with less frequency than desired.
