Despite staying till the end, Rishabh Pant (58* off 48) and Shimron Hetmyer (53* off 25) could not able to take Delhi Capitals (DC) past the victory line against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). They lost Match 22 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, by 1 run.
With 10 runs to win off two balls of Mohammed Siraj, all Pant could manage was two fours. His struggle throughout the innings ended up costing his side two valuable points.
The victory took RCB to the top of the points table, though second-placed Chennai Super Kings have a match in hand. Virat Kohli & co. have now won five out of their opening six matches. Delhi, on the other hand, have slipped to third.
Bangalore posted 171/5 after Pant won the toss and asked them to bat first. This was largely due to an AB de Villiers (75* off 42) special. For Delhi, Ishant Sharma bowled a wicket-maiden on his IPL return and finished with 4-1-26-1. Avesh Khan, once again, had an impressive spell (4-0-24-1), this time against the star-studded RCB batters.
All DC bowlers were economical throughout the innings until Pant gambled in the final over by asking Marcus Stoinis to bowl his first over, at a well-set de Villiers. It backfired. Stoinis conceded 23 runs, of which 22 came from de Villiers’s bat.
No ‘King’ Kohli show once again
RCB openers Devdutt Padikkal (17) and Kohli (12) fell early in the Powerplay twice in three days. They were clean bowled by, respectively, Ishant and Avesh.
Maxwell had the start, but not for so long
Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell then took the responsibility to rebuild the innings. Their third-wicket stand added 30 runs off 26 balls before Amit Mishra (3-0-27-1) trapped Maxwell (25) with a loopy leg-spin outside off stump. The ball went straight to Steven Smith’s hands at long-on. RCB were 62/3 after nine overs.
And the ‘ABD’ Masterclass comes into play yet again
De Villiers, however, stayed till the end in characteristic fashion. He held himself back until the last over before exploding against Stoinis. The sequence read 2, 6, 0, 6, 6, 2. Patidar (31 in 22), too, played his part to help his side post a reasonable total on board.
Delhi top-order falls
Delhi received early setbacks after scoring 23 from the opening two overs. Kohli brought Kyle Jamieson into the attack to bowl the third over. Jamieson got Orange Cap holder Shikhar Dhawan (6). In the next over, Siraj got rid of Smith (4), and Delhi found themselves at 28/2 after 3.3 overs.
After two early dismissals, Delhi’s two pocket dynamites Prithvi Shaw and Pant aggregated 19 runs in 22 balls. Then Shaw got an outside edge off Harshal Patel’s short delivery in the eighth over.
Pant, Stoinis hold nerve
Stoinis and Pant added 45 for the fourth wicket to bring DC back in the game. However, Harshal returned in the 13th over and sent Stoinis (22) back. Delhi needed 56 runs in the last 24 balls to win the contest.
Hetmyer’s cameo goes in vain
Hetmyer went after Jamieson in the 18th over, smashing three massive sixes. Jamieson had started the over with 3-0-11-1; he finished on 4-0-32-1. Hetmyer notched up his second IPL fifty in just 23 balls.
However, When DC needed 14 from the final over, Siraj conceded just two from his first three balls. Eventually, that ended up as the differential between the two sides.
Brief Score:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/5 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 75*; Avesh 1-24) beat Delhi Capitals 170/4 (Rishabh Pant 58*, Shimron Hetmyer 53*; Harshal Patel 2-37) by 1 run. Player of the Match: AB de Villiers.