IPL 2026 | Delhi halt Bengaluru's home run

BENGALURU: On April 8, Delhi Capitals’ David Miller was castigated heavily for refusing a single off the penultimate ball that eventually cost his team a one-run defeat against Gujarat Titans. The big-hitting South African gambled on finishing the game on his own as he was batting on 41 and his partner was spinner Kuldeep Yadav. Sadly, his decision backfired but the management, though, stood by him.

Since that brain fade, the southpaw, one of the most lethal finishers in world cricket, must have waited for an opportunity to correct that misjudgement. He chose a tense IPL game against defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru here at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday to do so, unleashing his famed brutality to power DC to a thrilling win off the penultimate ball with six wickets to spare.

Chasing a tricky target of 176 on a tacky surface, Delhi Capitals huffed and puffed amidst some splendid death-over bowling from RCB that left them needing 15 from the last over. Although Tristan Stubbs (60 n.o.) was still in the middle along with the experienced Miller (22 n.o., 10b), the match was still in the balance considering how well RCB had pulled things back in the last five overs through the veteran pace duo of Josh Hazlewood (0/38) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/26).

With the duo bowled out, Romario Shepherd was tasked with delivering the final over, and when he gave away just two singles off the first two balls, RCB would have thought they were almost near the finish line. But Miller had other plans, as he lofted Shepherd for consecutive sixes and then a four to pull off the chase that left the Challengers’ faithful disappointed. Delhi snapped their two-match losing streak while Royal Challengers suffered their second loss this season.                    

Earlier, the Royal Challengers actually made a good start through Phil Salt (63) and in-form veteran Virat Kohli (19) as the duo effortlessly took apart the Delhi Capitals’ opening pacers Auqib Nabi and Mukesh Kumar. Salt, who has found his mojo in the IPL following a dismal T20 World Cup, played the big shots from the onset, while the in-form veteran Kohli typically alternated between caution and aggression as the Challengers went about at 10 runs an over in the Power Play.

Kohli departed in the final over of the Power Play, but Salt and the incoming Devdutt Padikkal continued to bat with a high tempo. The rate at which the duo were going, it looked like the Royal Challengers would rake up their fifth 200-plus total in their sixth match. But a double blow in the middle phase put a brake on the Challengers’ run, and the hosts never recovered from that as Delhi bowled smartly on a pitch that played slow again.

First to perish was Padikkal in the 10th over, his attempted lofted shot off Axar Patel (2/18) landing in the hands of David Miller in the deep. Salt joined him in the dugout four balls later, the Englishman holding out to Stubbs in the outfield off Kuldeep Yadav (2/32).

Challengers had plenty of hitters in their arsenal, but barring Tim David (26), none of the others could get to play a game-defining innings as the they stumbled to a par-looking total that proved inadequate in the end. 

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had a given a sniff for RCB with a brilliant opening spell but DC held their nerve to eke out a win. DH Photo/ Kishor Kumar Bolar 

SCOREBOARD ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Phil Salt c Stubbs b Kuldeep 38b (4x4 3x6) Virat Kohli c Nissanka b Ngidi 19 (13b 3x4) Devdutt Padikkal c Miller b Axar 18 (13b 1x4 1x6) Rajat Patidar c Rahul b Mukesh 8 (4b 1x6) Tim David c Natarajan b Axar 27 (17b 3x4 1x6) Jitesh Sharma c Miller b Ngidi 14 (20b 1x4) Romario Shepherd lbw Kuldeep Yadav 1 (4b) Krunal Pandya (run out) 12 (10b 1x6) Rasikh Dar (not out) 0 Bhuvneshwar Kumar (not out) 3 (2b). Extras (LB-2 NB-1 W-8) 11. TOTAL (for 8 wkts 20 overs) 175.    Fall of wickets: 1-52 (Kohli) 2-99 (Padikkal) 3-105 (Salt) 4-131 (Patidar) 5-146 (David) 6-149 (Shepherd) 7-172 (Krunal) 8-172 (Jitesh). Bowling: Auqib Nabi 3-0-36-0 (w-1) Mukesh Kumar 4-0-32-1 (w-4 nb-1) Lungi Ngidi 4-0-39-2 (w-1) Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-32-2 (w-1) T Natarajan 2-0-16-0 (w-1) Axar Patel 3-0-18-2. DELHI CAPITALS: K L Rahul c Kohli b Krunal 57 (34b 6x4 2x6) Pathum Nissanka lbw Bhuvneshwar 1 (2b) Karun Nair c Salt b Bhuvneshwar 5 (5b 1x4) Sameer Rizvi c Jitesh b Bhuvneshwar 2 (3b) Tristan Stubbs (not out) 60 (47b 4x4 1x6) Axar Patel (retd hurt) 26 (19b 3x4) David Miller (not out) 22 (10b 1x4 2x6). Extras (LB-3 NB-1 W-2) 6. TOTAL (for 4 wkts 19.5 overs) 179.  Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Nissanka) 2-16 (Nair) 3-18 (Rizvi) 4-87 (Rahul) 4-134 (Axar retired hurt).  Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-26-3 Josh Hazlewood 4-0-38-0 Rasikh Dar 4-0-40-0 (w-2 nb-1) Krunal Pandya 4-0-24-1 Suyash Sharma 3-0-31-0 Romario Shepherd 0.5-0-17-0. Result: DC won by 6 wkts. PoM: Tristan Stubbs. RCB’s next match: Vs GT (April 24 Bengaluru).