IPL 2020
Kagiso Rabada pocketed four plots – the first from IPL 2020 © BCCI
Delhi Capitals completed a complete victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore to move to the top of the points table at IPL 2020. The two teams started tied before the match, but Delhi Capitals went ahead with a complete performance.
What went wrong with RCB?
After winning the toss, Virat Kohli had cited that the dew factor could come into play in the chase. But even before that went wrong, Powerplay’s plans took a beating. Yuzvendra Chahal received 18 runs in his first over, Isuru Udana was hit by three limits in the first over by Prithvi Shaw, while Navdeep Saini gave up 13 in his first over. Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan had 60 in the first six overs to gain momentum after being hit.
This demonstration was followed by a near-perfect partnership in the second half between Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis, and the wheels came back out of the RCB bowling game. Both Navdeep Saini and Mohammad Siraj ended up throwing bowling projectors when their plans went awry under pressure. That 89-race position was crucial in restoring momentum to Delhi Capitals.
Why did they have to regain momentum?
RCB had a good bowling phase after Mohammad Siraj bounced Shaw for 43. Washington Sundar made another impressive display of deviant smart control and gave up just 20 runs in his four overs. With only a limit on 17 balls after Shaw was sent off, the pressure mounted and gave way to Shikhar Dhawan who faced Isuru Udana. Shreyas Iyer fell back to clear the longest boundary against Moeen Ali’s detour, but fell to a clever catch by Devdutt Padikkal. RCB gave away just 30 runs between overs 7 and 13, before Stoinis and Pant made sure DC scored 196 eventually.
Was the total beyond RCB?
Given his batting depth, having included Moeen Ali in the lineup, the target, while high, was still not beyond RCB. They were also confident that the dew factor would come into play in the chase.
What happened in the chase?
Kagiso Rabada dropped an Aaron Finch babysitter in the first over, and Dhawan dropped another in the second over. Finch would be even luckier when R Ashwin pulled out of running it at the non-forward end when he started a race too early. But Finch continued to be caught up in the power game, in stark contrast to the beginning of Delhi. It didn’t help that Devdutt Padikkal was outscored by Ashwin on the power play, drilling down to midfield. And when Axar Patel made Finch fall behind for a 13 of 14 balls, the power game had gone terribly wrong for RCB.
Was it even beyond AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli?
Definitely not, but the beginning had put different pressures on De Villiers and Kohli. The former now appeared trying to attack early and even hit a 149km / h delivery from Nortje over cover. But with the onus on him to make the power play count, de Villiers ended up missing another Nortje bigwig in the last over of the power play.
Meanwhile, Kohli had two fours and a six on his 43 of 39 balls. She was unable to inject any momentum into the innings, which also failed to pull RCB out of the rut they had gotten into. The Delhi spinning duo of R Ashwin (4-0-26-1) and Axar Patel (4-0-18-2) eliminated the narrow overs in this crucial phase, with the latter also catching Moeen Ali in the longest limit.
Was he beyond Kohli now?
It certainly seemed to be over on the 14th, when Kohli managed a jerk and walked away without looking at the referee. Rabada got his first casualty at the time and then would add three more from the lower middle order to finish with impressive 4-24 figures as Delhi returned to the top of the table with 4 wins in 5 games.
Quick Scores: Delhi Capitals 196/4 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 53 *, Prithvi Shaw 43) won Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 43; Kagiso Rabada 4-24) for 59 runs
© Cricbuzz
