BENGALURU: A combined bowling effort, followed by KL Rahul’s unbeaten 93-run knock, motorized Delhi Capitals to an impressive six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 24th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Capitals captain Axar Patel’s decision to bowl first paid bonuses as his bowling unit limited an all-star RCB batting lineup for a cautious 163/7 in 20 overs.
The home side, though, had a showy start to their innings, politeness of Phil Salt, who also smashed Mitchell Starc for 30 runs in an exciting third over of the innings.
But the right-handed batter had an unbearable end to his blistering knock as he was run out in the next over due to a mix-up with expert Virat Kohli.
Salt smashed four fours and three sixes on his way to a 17-ball 37.
His notice fueled Capitals’ bowlers with momentum, who made regular strikes to reduce RCB to 125/7 in 17.1 overs.
Tim David gave a late push to the home side’s total by scoring an unbeaten 37 off 20 distributions with the help of two fours and four sixes.
For Capitals, Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav picked up two wickets each, while Mukesh Kumar and Mohit Sharma dismissed one batter apiece.
Chasing a modest 164-run target, the visitors knocked the winning runs for the loss of four wickets and 13 balls to extra, courtesy of a disobedient half-century by Rahul.
But it was not a straightforward run chase for the Capitals as they had been reduced to 30/3 in 4.3 overs as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Yash Dayal undid their top order.
Skipper Patel and Rahul then attempted to launch recovery by amassing a cautious partnership.
But it could yield only 28 runs until Patel (15) was dismissed by Suyash Sharma and the Capitals, as a result, slipped further to 58/4 in 8.4 overs.
Rahul then found plenty support at the other end in the form of Tristan Stubbs and together they dragged the Capitals out of trouble.
The pair batted sensibly in the early phase of their match-winning partnership, swapped gears after settling down and went on to add an unbeaten 111 runs for the fourth wicket.
Rahul remained the top scorer for the Capitals with an unbeaten 93 off 53 deliveries, dotted with seven fours and six sixes, while Stubbs made 38 not out from 23 balls and featured five boundaries including a six.
For his fastening knock, KL Rahul was ruled the Player of the Match.
Kumar was the standout bowler for the RCB, winning two wickets for just 26 runs in his four overs, while Dayal and Sharma chipped in with one scalp each.
The six-wicket victory supported Delhi Capitals’ second position in the IPL 2025 standings as they now have eight points after four matches, while RCB continued third with six points in five games.
