The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has officially been eliminated from the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). They faced a 16-run loss against the Delhi Capitals (DC) while chasing the mammoth total of 188 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. The Capitals, with the victory, have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and have also reached the top of the points table.
Delhi had got off to a decent start with Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw scoring 35 runs for the opening wicket before the latter getting out in the fourth over of Umesh Yadav. After dismissal, Iyer along with Dhawan started building a partnership and they scored 68 runs for the second wicket before the latter throwing his wicket away to Yuzvendra Chahal in the 13th over.
WATCH – Saini Got Smashed By Rutherford In The Final Over
Rishabh Pant came out to bat next and he failed to do much as he was dismissed in Chahal’s next over. Even, Iyer was also dismissed in the very next over of Washington Sundar. Colin Ingram was batting at the crease with Sherfane Rutherford in the 17th over and on the fifth ball of the over, Saini dismissed Ingram. Meanwhile, the Capitals posted a daunting 187, thanks to fifties by Iyer and Dhawan and some late fireworks by Rutherford and Axar Patel in the last few overs as they added 46 runs for the 6th wicket in just 19 balls.
During the chase, the RCB started on fire as Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli added as many as 63 runs for the opening wicket before Patel getting out in the 6th over of Kagiso Rabada. Even Kohli got out in the 8th over of Axar. However, along with the Shivam Dube, De Villiers added 35 runs for the third wicket before getting out in the 12th over of Rutherford owing to a brilliant running catch by Patel at the mid-wicket boundary.
WATCH – Rishabh Pant Takes A Couple Of Brilliant Diving Catches
In the 13th over of Amit Mishra, RCB lost two wickets of Klaasen and Dube, which narrowed down the hopes of RCB even further. However, in order to dismissal, Klaasen, Pant took a brilliant diving catch towards his left. Marcus Stoinis and Gurkeerat Singh started building a partnership for the 6th wicket as they added 49 runs as well, but the latter got out in the penultimate over, with RCB requiring 28 runs in the last 8 balls. In the end, Delhi won the game by 16 runs and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
Brief Score:
Delhi Capitals – 187/5 in 20 overs (S Iyer: 52, S Dhawan: 50; Y Chahal: 2/41) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore – 171/7 in 20 overs (P Patel: 39; Amit Mishra: 2/29, K Rabada: 2/31) by 16 runs
Here is how Twitter reacted to Delhi’s qualification:
Delhi Capitals. New name…new game. Finally….a good year in #IPL. ☺️🙌
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 28, 2019
Kudos to young @DelhiCapitals team for qualifying for playoffs. Credit to the team and @SGanguly99 for the turnaround
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 28, 2019
Delhi Capitals reaching the play-offs in many ways is the story of the season so far. Young team, full of zest and learning with every match. I hope Prithvi and Rishabh rise to the occasion in the matches to come
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 28, 2019
Yay ! Into the PlayOffs after 7 years.
What a happy feeling !
Great effort by the team and amazing support from @DelhiCapitals fans despite the heat at Kotla. #DCvRCB pic.twitter.com/lTsZDbgpSF— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 28, 2019
Delhi Capitals may qualify tonight. With one week left in the league! What a remarkable turn around story this has been.
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 28, 2019
@DelhiCapitals congratulations, change in name and in the play offs! @KagisoRabada25 @MishiAmit bowled superbly and @akshar2026– all-round performance in true sense.#DCvRCB
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 28, 2019
@MStoinis RCB looses because of this man Stoinis! Never had the intent to score runs and go big? Was that funny for you standing and posing there n not going for the big shots? Unless you are MSD who will score 24 in an over – never looked like you're playing for winning
— Twinkle Ghai (@TwinkleGhai) April 28, 2019
#DCvRCB m stoinis wht r u doing there you go there and play in Attacking cricket shorts not for 1/2 runs till 20th over you not going for big shorts just single.. Can't understand? You are not Msd last over 26 runs hitted.
— Nayan Darji. (@nayandarjidenap) April 28, 2019
Muddled thinking of RCB has cost them the match again. Wonder what's the logic of holding stoinis so late in the order, match was getting tight… #RCB
— commoner (@TN_commoner) April 28, 2019
https://twitter.com/FLove1695/status/1122501781123035136
Sometimes I really hate Marcus Stoinis, he hasn't take a risk at all #DcVRcb #ipl
— Ramiro (@ramiro789rk) April 28, 2019
