Royal Challengers Bangalore’s campaign in the Indian Premier League 2019 has been in dire straits. They have lost five out of five matches that they played this year and are on the verge of an early exit from the tournament. In hope to revive their fortunes, they were playing against Delhi Capitals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium wearing the traditional ‘Greens’. DC won the toss and opted to field first as both teams named an unchanged playing XI.
The pitch looked to a belter at first but fooled everyone as it was gripping and was slow since the very beginning. Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers got out inside the mandatory powerplay. Virat Kohli was playing the anchor’s role and held one end tight. Moeen Ali played a cameo to boost RCB’s total towards the end, which eventually reached to 149/8 in 20 overs. Kohli scored 41 runs off 33 balls, including one four and two sixes while Rabada finished with a four-fer.
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Chasing 150, Delhi got off to a shaky start as they lost one of their openers in the first over. Tim Southee could have grabbed two in that over had Parthiv Patel not dropped a regulation catch behind the wicket. Shreyas Iyer and Prithvi Shaw stitched momentum shifting partnership for the second wicket. Iyer scored 67 runs off 50 balls including eight fours and two sixes to take his team over the line by four wickets with seven balls to spare. What were the reasons for defeat for RCB?
Losing wickets at regular interval
Royal Challengers Bangalore was inserted to bat first by Delhi. A good was required in order to put early pressure on Delhi’s bowlers. But this didn’t happen as Parthiv Patel threw his wicket away cheaply. AB de Villiers wasn’t at his usual best and got out to a ball, which he could have sent into the orbit on any other day. Marcus Stoinis and Moeen Ali also threw their wicket at a crucial juncture, which didn’t allow them to up the ante.
Horrible finish at the death overs
Virat Kohli was set at the crease and Akshdeep Nath was partnering him from the other end. The time was set to unleash all the big hits to post a big total. But Kohli perished trying to hit Kagiso Rabada for a maximum. Akshdeep got out in the very same over and RCb was running out of batsmen. From being 133/4 in 17 overs, Bengaluru finished their innings for 149/8 in 20 overs. The last three overs witnessed only 16 runs while Delhi managed four wickets in the same period.
Watch – Kagiso Rabada’s three-wicket over
Poor ground fielding
Chasing 150, Delhi got off to a shaky start as they lost one of their openers in the first over. Tim Southee could have grabbed two in that over had Parthiv Patel not dropped a regulation catch behind the wicket. Shreyas Iyer was the lucky man and he scored a crucial fifty to help Delhi win the game. Other than this dropped chance, RCB was poor with their fielding and gave away several easy runs and conceded boundaries.
