JOIN USRCB soar on the power of Vs
Replacing Mahipal Lomror as the Impact Player following a mini-collapse of Royal Challengers Bangalore innings, Anuj Rawat made little impact with the bat as the right-hander trudged to an unbeaten 15 off 22 balls with a solitary four.
Having settled for what then appeared a below-par-score of 174/6, Challengers needed a spark of brilliance to defend the moderate total. Rawat produced that moment when the 23-year-old's pick-up-and-throw effort caught Delhi Capitals' Impact Player Prithvi Shaw short of the crease.
With spring back in their steps and the packed stadium on its feet, Bangalore were soon all over the Capitals like a bad rash. With pacers striking in tandem, Capitals lost three wickets for just two runs on the board with Mohammad Siraj and Wayne Parnell scalping Yash Dhull and Mitchell Marsh respectively.
Warner showed vignettes of his vintage best but it ended with a loose shot off IPL debutant Vyshak Vijaykumar. The Karnataka pacer, who was RCB's replacement for the injured Rajat Patidar, had a memorable baptism as the 25-year-old later returned to remove Axar Patel and Lalit Yadav for a haul of 3/20 in four overs which was worthy of player of the match award.
With Wanindu Hasaranga, who expectedly replaced David Willey in the laying 11, trapping Capitals' biggest hope Manish Pandey (50, 38b, 5x4, 1x6) in between, the visitors crashed to their fifth straight loss to remain stuck at the bottom of the pool. Capitals' innings eventually folded at 151/9, giving Challengers their second win in four matches. The 23-run lifted Challengers to the seventh spot in the table.
Earlier, RCB suffered a stunning collapse after Virat Kohli (50, 34b, 6x4, 1x6) had set the M Chinnaswamy stadium, which was draped in red, afire with another significant knock that was marked by his new-found urgency and purpose. His delightful knock and a few cameos had set RCB up nicely for another big total when the innings imploded without as much of a sign. They were cruising at 132/3 in the 14th over when the hosts lost three wickets in no time.
Promoted up the order, Harshal Patel hit a six off Axar but was dismissed off the next ball upon review of the last ball of the over. Kuldeep Yadav then inflicted more damage with wickets off successive balls. The left-arm wrist spinner induced a miscue from the dangerous Maxwell with his first ball of the over. Dinesh Karthik pulled the next ball straight to mid-wicket fielder Lalit who completed a fine low catch. Rawat did deny Kuldeep the hat trick but the Capitals had managed to slow things down.
At the end of the 14th over, RCB were scoring at 9.4 runs an over but three wickets in as many balls saw them add no more than 40 runs in the last five overs due to a combination of lack of firepower in lower-order batting and Capitals' tidy bowling after the initial profligacy. RCB bowlers, however, made amends for their largesse in the previous match with a more purposeful performance.