Delhi Capitals completed a comprehensive win over Royal Challengers Bangalore to move to the top of the points table in IPL 2020. The two teams started level before the match, but Delhi Capitals surged ahead with a complete performance.

What went wrong for RCB?

After winning the toss, Virat Kohli had cited that the dew factor could come into play in the chase. But even before that went wrong, the powerplay plans took a beating. Yuzvendra Chahal was hit for 18 runs in his first over, Isuru Udana was hit for three boundaries in the first over by Prithvi Shaw while Navdeep Saini gave away 13 in his first over. Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan put on 60 in the first six overs to seize momentum after being put in to bat.

This showing was followed by a near-perfect partnership through the latter half between Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis, and the wheels came off RCB’s bowling once again. Both Navdeep Saini and Mohammad Siraj ended up bowling beamers as their plans went awry under pressure. That 89-run stand was crucial in handing the momentum back to Delhi Capitals.

Why did they have to get momentum back?

RCB had a good phase of bowling after Mohammad Siraj bounced Shaw out for 43. Washington Sundar put on another impressive display of controlled, smart offspin and gave away only 20 runs in his four overs. With only one boundary in the 17 balls after Shaw’s dismissal, the pressure mounted giving way to Shikhar Dhawan holing out to long on against Isuru Udana. Shreyas Iyer backed himself to clear the longer boundary against Moeen Ali’s offspin but fell to a smart boundary catch by Devdutt Padikkal. RCB gave away only 30 runs between overs 7 and 13, before Stoinis and Pant ensured DC posted 196 eventually.

Was the total beyond RCB?

Given their batting depth, having included Moeen Ali in the line-up, the target although high was still not beyond RCB. They were also banking on the dew factor to come into play in the chase.

What happened in the chase?

Kagiso Rabada put down a sitter from Aaron Finch in the very first over, and Dhawan dropped another in the second over. Finch would get even luckier as R Ashwin pulled out from running him out at the non-striker’s end when he started a run way too early. But Finch continued to be pinned down in the powerplay, in stark contrast to Delhi’s start. It didn’t help that Devdutt Padikkal was outfoxed by Ashwin in the powerplay, holing out to deep midwicket. And when Axar Patel had Finch edging behind for a 14-ball 13, the powerplay had gone horribly wrong for RCB.

Was it beyond even AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli?

Definitely not, but the start had put different pressures on de Villiers and Kohli. The former now turned up trying to be attacking early and even smacked a 149 kph delivery from Nortje over cover. But with the onus on him to make the powerplay count, de Villiers ended up miscuing another big shot off Nortje in the last over of the powerplay.

Meanwhile, Kohli got two fours and a six in his 39-ball 43. He wasn’t able to inject any momentum into the innings, which also failed to power RCB out of the rut they had gotten into. Delhi’s spin duo of R Ashwin (4-0-26-1) and Axar Patel (4-0-18-2) wheeled away tight overs in this crucial phase, with the latter also getting Moeen Ali caught on the longer boundary.

Was it beyond Kohli now?

It certainly seemed to by the 14th over, when Kohli edged a pull and walked away without looking at the umpire. Rabada got his first victim then and would go on to add three more from the lower middle-order to finish with impressive figures of 4-24 as Delhi went back to the top of the table with 4 wins in 5 games.

Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 196/4 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 53*, Prithvi Shaw 43) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 43; Kagiso Rabada 4-24) by 59 runs

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