The penultimate game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 was played between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) in Abu Dhabi. It was the fight to reach second place on the points table and DC was the one who came out as the winner after brilliant half-centuries from Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan. After winning the toss, the Capitals asked RCB to bat first.
The Capitals’ bowlers kept on bowling disciplined line and lengths to the RCB openers Devdutt Padikkal and Joshua Phillippe. Struggling to middle the ball, Phillippe (12 from 17) gave his wicket to Kagiso Rabada, on the very first ball of his spell. After the dismissal, skipper Virat Kohli came out to bat, and along with Padikkal, he continued milking runs from the other end. Kohli got a life courtesy of a dropped catch by Nortje, Kohli (29 from 24), but eventually perished to R Ashwin.
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RCB failed to score runs consistently on the two-paced track, and a double-wicket over from Anrich Nortje – where he got the wickets of the half-centurion Padikkal (50 from 41) and Chris Morris crumbled RCB’s momentum further. Shivam Dube and AB de Villiers (35 from 21) added 33 for the fifth wicket, but they were eventually dismissed in the 18th and 19th respectively, as RCB managed to post a below-par 152 at the loss of 7 wickets.
The opening woes of DC continued as Mohammad Siraj got the better of Prithvi Shaw’s stumps after squaring him up, but after that, Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane played in some sensible, mature, and controlled cricket. Getting boundaries at regular intervals and milking singles with ease, it seemed that the two would take Delhi home with ease.
Although Dhawan (54 from 41) perished while attempting a scoop to Shahbaz Ahmed, the required run rate was well within DC’s reach, but then, skipper Shreyas Iyer got hurried up and gave Ahmed his second wicket. Rahane (60 from 46) was also dismissed while reverse sweeping Washington Sundar in the 17th over, although the score for Delhi, by then, had crossed 134.
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In came Marcus Stoinis and Rishabh Pant, who both steered the Capitals to a win by 6 wickets with an over to spare. Although, once RCB took the game deeper than 18.2 overs, their spot on the playoff got stamped too. Delhi Capitals goes to second means they meet Mumbai Indians in the first qualifier, whereas KKR will now pray that MI slams SRH tomorrow to clear their path.
Hits
Ajinkya Rahane
Ajinkya Rahane scored his first IPL half-century in 2020 before the bowlers did a brilliant job to restrict the opposition. He continued to bat with composure in the middle overs and was joined by Shikhar Dhawan who made his intentions clear from the first ball. Rahane scored 60 with the help of five 4s and a 6.
Shikhar Dhawan
Shikhar Dhawan has been enjoying a consistent run for DC in the recent games for the IPL 2020. He was desperate to score, especially after failing to score in the last couple of games. He amassed as many as 54 runs in just 41 deliveries with the help of six fours
Flops
Joshua Phillippe
It’s been the second consecutive game when Joshua Phillippe has failed miserably. RCB hasn’t managed to win a single match since his brilliant knock against KXIP.
