Virat’s RCB Outclassed; Rabada & Stoinis Take DC to Top of Table

Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered their second loss of the season against Delhi Capitals.

(Photo: BCCI)   

Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered their second loss of the season, going down by a massive 59 runs against Delhi Capitals in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Monday, 5 October.

Put in to bat, Marcus Stoinis’ quickfire half-century helped Delhi post a challenging 196 for four wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

In response, RCB were restricted to 137/9 in 20 overs as Kagiso Rabada became the first bowler this season to take four wickets in a match.

Delhi overtake Mumbai Indians in the points table and move to the top spot, having lost just one of their five games so far.

Delhi Capitals’ Innings

Openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan got Delhi off to a flying start with a 68-run partnership. The duo took their team to 63/0 at the end of the six Powerplay overs.

However, three wickets in the next 22 balls with the addition of just 19 runs brought RCB back.

Mohammed Siraj, playing his first game of the season, gave RCB a breakthrough by removing Shaw for 42 off 23 balls. Dhawan followed him back to the hut after getting dismissed by Isuru Udana for a 28-ball 32.

The wicket of captain Shreyas Iyer (11) reduced DC to 90 for three in 11.3 overs.

Marcus Stoinis (53 off 26 balls) put on 89 runs with Rishabh Pant (37 off 25) for the fourth wicket.

Stoinis (53 off 26 balls) then came in to put on 89 runs with Rishabh Pant (37 off 25) for the fourth wicket in 6.5 overs as the duo took charge.

Stoinis survived an early chance with Yuzvendra Chahal dropping him off his own bowling. After that, he clobbered the RCB bowlers, hitting six fours and two sixes.

Siraj returned with 2/34 while Moeen and Udana picked up a wicket apiece.

RCB’s Innings

The Royal Challengers Bangalore – coming in to the game on the back of an 8-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals – couldn’t form any significant partnerships during their run chase.

The start to their innings was in stark contrast to their opponents, with three wickets falling in the first 35 balls. Openers Devdutt Padikkal (4) and Aaron Finch (13) along with Number 4 batsman AB de Villiers (9) fell cheaply, which left RCB tottering at 43/3 in 5.5 overs.

Skipper Virat Kohli scored a 39-ball 43 and was dismissed by Rabada, who picked up four wickets and gave away 24 runs in his four overs. The pacer accounted for the wickets of the skipper, Washington Sundar (17), Udana (1) and Shivam Dube (11).

South African pacer Rabada is currently the leading wicket-taker in the league with 12 wickets in five matches. Other than that, pace bowler Anrich Nortje and left-arm spinner Axar Patel took two wickets each while Ravichandran Ashwin picked up one scalp in the match.

The innings also featured Ashwin giving opener Finch a ‘Mankading’ warning for stepping out of the crease before he had released the ball.