Royal Challengers Bengaluru Dominated Delhi Capitals with 47 Runs Victory in IPL 2024
Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s impressive win against Delhi Capitals not only kept them in contention for a playoffs spot but also boosted their Net Run Rate (NRR), propelling them to fifth place on the points table.
After winning five straight, RCB moved up to fifth place in the standings.
Delhi Capitals 140 (Axar 57, Dayal 3-20, Ferguson 2-23) were defeated by Royal Challengers Bengaluru 187 for 9 (Patidar 52, Jacks 41, Salam 2-23, Khaleel 2-31) by a margin of 47 runs.
A fifth straight victory moved Royal Challengers Bengaluru up to fifth place in the standings, narrowly above Delhi Capitals, who have the same number of points as RCB but a worse net run rate. This victory also put RCB in the running for a postseason berth.
Following the RCB’s losses of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli in the space of four overs, M Chinnaswamy was silent. It appeared as though their batting issues at the beginning of the season had returned to bother them. With their counterattacking combo, Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar allayed any concerns, but the DC bowlers responded with an almost flawless final-overs display to hold the RCB to 187 for 9.
The bowlers for the Royal Bengals had their tails up, with the Bengaluru fans firmly behind them. With the wicket of Jake Fraser-McGurk, who was run out at the non-striker’s end after a straight shot from Shai Hope deflected off Yash Dayal’s fingers onto the stumps, they reduced DC to 30 for 4.
First up for Kohli in his 250th IPL match was Ishant Sharma, against whom he had amassed 93 off 67 balls without being removed. On the opening ball of the match, he kept out a sharp inswinger. On the final ball of the opening over, he pulled one over square leg for a six.
Ishant smashed a four off the following ball, using an outside edge, and then nicked one behind the wicketkeeper with a well-timed no-look drive over wide long-on for a six. Kohli demonstrated his intentions with a 13-ball 27, but he was unable to live up to the Midas touch he appeared to be in.
Prior to Sunday, Patidar had been out of the IPL 2024 game eight times due to pace. But in an over bowled by Mukesh Kumar, he stormed to 15 off eight balls thanks to three fours. In the sixth over, DC’s acting captain, Axar Patel, came in, and Patidar deservedly slogged him over deep midwicket. Additionally, he gave Kuldeep Yadav a straight blow to the head.
As RCB overcame the loss of their openers, Jacks also struck Kuldeep for a six in each of his opening two overs at the other end. Following the powerplay, RCB scored 49 in the four overs thanks to an attack led by Patidar and Jacks. During the process, Patidar scored his maiden half-century of the season in Bengaluru and his fourth in his previous five innings. It did not help DC that the fielders wasted four opportunities in 11 deliveries, including two dropped catches in a Kuldeep over.
In the eleventh over, DC called in Rasikh Salam. He had the opportunity to dismiss Patidar on the first ball, but Axar was unable to hold on at cover. However, Salam took revenge with a hard-length ball on his subsequent over. Axar moved to his right to pouch that as Patidar miscued it into cover while attempting to drive it over the off side with his front foot. His 88-run partnership with Jacks ended there, as he was quickly dismissed by Kuldeep.
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RCB’s hopes were raised, though, when Mahipal Lomror and Cameron Green combined to take 22 off Kuldeep’s last overâthe 17th of the innings. After being dismissed for 23 in his opening two overs, Khaleel Ahmed hit two sixes in three balls to remove Lomror and Dinesh Karthik from the game in the eighteenth over. From his four overs, he finished with 2 for 31. After eliminating Swapnil Singh, Salam made a return of 2 for 23 out of his three. With the ball gripping the surface, DC kept RCB under 200 by taking five wickets and conceding just 40 runs in the final four overs.
To start, Fraser-McGurk was true to form, hitting left-arm spinner Swapnil for a huge six over wide long-off. No batter hits it higher than Fraser-McGurk’s 262.85 among those who have faced at least 30 balls of spin in the 2024 Indian Premier League. However, RCB’s fortunate break allowed the DC opening to return cheaply.
David Warner, who returned to the team after missing four games, was out for one of the first two games. Dayal had easily defeated Abishek Porel. RCB had only taken four wickets in the powerplay once this season; the other time, they had done so against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The RCB seamers knew exactly what they had to do in the middle overs: hit the nice length and keep the batters from moving their arms freely. They conceded just 15 runs off of 16 deliveries, either of decent length or slightly shorter, between overs eight and eleven.
Axar was the only player to provide some resistance with his second half-century of the season, even though he was leading for the first time in the IPL. He raised his fifty off thirty balls by hitting sixes to end Jacks’ only over. However, the outcome was obvious long before he top-edged Dayal over backward point, where du Plessis reversed course and collected a falling catch.
