RCB vs DC in 50 Words
Gabbar and Shaw got off to the perfect start with 88 for the first wicket, but the second half wasn’t the best. Defending 164, Anrich Nortje put us on the driver’s seat with a fiery new-ball spell, but Bharat and Maxi took Bangalore home in yet another DC-RCB thriller.
A Innings of Two Halves
The toss went RCB’s way, but the intent to not treat this dead rubber as a dead rubber was clear as day when Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli both announced that they’d be playing unchanged XIs.
As is the case so often, our first boundary came off a beautiful Dhawan cover drive off Maxwell in the first over. When Prithvi Shaw absolutely cracked a backfoot punch off Siraj, the openers looked switched on.
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Glenn Maxwell came on to bowl his third over in the powerplay, and the openers weren’t going to let him get away with a cheap over. Shikhar Dhawan slog swept the first six of the match while Shaw creamed a drive for four. The duo put away bad balls in the Garton over as well to take our powerplay tally to 55 for no loss.
Some glorious slog sweeps, flicks, cuts and drives followed before we lost our first wicket in the form of Dhawan (43 off 35) for 88 just after the 10th over. Gabbar and Shaw were an absolute treat.
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However, we couldn’t quite capitalize on the top start in the second half of the innings. Rishabh Pant came in at 3 and caressed a cover drive off Harshal to get going. Alas, we lost Prithvi Shaw two runs short of his fifty just after he’d connected another fierce slog sweep. The partnerships were hard to come by after the first one, as Rishabh Pant perished a few deliveries after Shreyas Iyer strode out to the middle.
All but two boundaries after the 14th over mark came from Hetmyer’s blade and the Guyanese power-hitter contributed with another valuable cameo of 29 to take Delhi to 164/5.
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Bharat, Maxwell Take RCB Home in Thriller
Anrich Nortje has been a force to be reckoned with this IPL, and he proved that once again in the powerplay, getting rid of both RCB openers Padikkal and Kohli seven deliveries into his spell.
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The Bangalore outfit were on the backfoot early, but KS Bharat and de Villiers got to building a partnership. It wasn’t all consolidation, as Bharat took on the left-arm orthodox of Axar Patel for a six and a four to get himself and his side going. AB took some time to get in, but didn’t let the loose balls slip away without maximising them. 49 runs into the partnership and 26 runs into his innings, the in-form Axar Patel got rid of the big fish. In walked another in-form player from the opposition - Glenn Maxwell.
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The wickets didn’t deter Bharat, who was executing his plans to perfection, especially off the spinners. He used his feet well and got a lot of his sixes in the V, making life difficult for the DC bowlers. The dropped catches didn’t help them either, and they proved to be costly too with Maxwell in single digits at the time and scoring two reverse hits for four between the spills.
An over later, Bharat reached his very first IPL fifty, a commendable one at that. The boundaries kept coming for both the batters out in the middle. They’d brought the required run rate which hovered around 11 at the halfway mark down to just over 10 with three overs to go in the chase.
With 19 required from 12 balls, Anrich Nortje bowled an excellent penultimate over, giving away just four runs and seemingly putting DC back in front. Fifteen were required from the final 6 deliveries and Maxwell began with a four. The pressure was palpable with an uncharacteristic misfield by Axar and a wide off radar by Avesh. With five needed from the final ball, the man of the hour KS Bharat knocked the winning six and sent the RCB camp into jubilation.
KS Bharat (78* off 52) and Glenn Maxwell’s (51* off 33) match-winning stand of 111* had taken the Men in Red to victory in the last league stage game of IPL 2021.
The match didn’t have much effect on the points table though, with the Capitals finishing at the top with 20 points and set to face off against the Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on Super Sunday in Dubai.
Bring. It. On.
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Brief Scores
Delhi Capitals 164/5 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 48 off 31, Shikhar Dhawan 43 off 35, Mohammed Siraj 2/25, Dan Christian 1/19); Royal Challengers Bangalore 166/3 in 20 overs (KS Bharat 78* off 52, Glenn Maxwell 51* off 33, Anrich Nortje 2/24, Axar Patel 1/39)
RCB vs DC in 50 Words
Gabbar and Shaw got off to the perfect start with 88 for the first wicket, but the second half wasn’t the best. Defending 164, Anrich Nortje put us on the driver’s seat with a fiery new-ball spell, but Bharat and Maxi took Bangalore home in yet another DC-RCB thriller.
A Innings of Two Halves
The toss went RCB’s way, but the intent to not treat this dead rubber as a dead rubber was clear as day when Rishabh Pant and Virat Kohli both announced that they’d be playing unchanged XIs.
As is the case so often, our first boundary came off a beautiful Dhawan cover drive off Maxwell in the first over. When Prithvi Shaw absolutely cracked a backfoot punch off Siraj, the openers looked switched on.
View this post on Instagram
Glenn Maxwell came on to bowl his third over in the powerplay, and the openers weren’t going to let him get away with a cheap over. Shikhar Dhawan slog swept the first six of the match while Shaw creamed a drive for four. The duo put away bad balls in the Garton over as well to take our powerplay tally to 55 for no loss.
Some glorious slog sweeps, flicks, cuts and drives followed before we lost our first wicket in the form of Dhawan (43 off 35) for 88 just after the 10th over. Gabbar and Shaw were an absolute treat.
View this post on Instagram
However, we couldn’t quite capitalize on the top start in the second half of the innings. Rishabh Pant came in at 3 and caressed a cover drive off Harshal to get going. Alas, we lost Prithvi Shaw two runs short of his fifty just after he’d connected another fierce slog sweep. The partnerships were hard to come by after the first one, as Rishabh Pant perished a few deliveries after Shreyas Iyer strode out to the middle.
All but two boundaries after the 14th over mark came from Hetmyer’s blade and the Guyanese power-hitter contributed with another valuable cameo of 29 to take Delhi to 164/5.
View this post on Instagram
Bharat, Maxwell Take RCB Home in Thriller
Anrich Nortje has been a force to be reckoned with this IPL, and he proved that once again in the powerplay, getting rid of both RCB openers Padikkal and Kohli seven deliveries into his spell.
View this post on Instagram
The Bangalore outfit were on the backfoot early, but KS Bharat and de Villiers got to building a partnership. It wasn’t all consolidation, as Bharat took on the left-arm orthodox of Axar Patel for a six and a four to get himself and his side going. AB took some time to get in, but didn’t let the loose balls slip away without maximising them. 49 runs into the partnership and 26 runs into his innings, the in-form Axar Patel got rid of the big fish. In walked another in-form player from the opposition - Glenn Maxwell.
View this post on Instagram
The wickets didn’t deter Bharat, who was executing his plans to perfection, especially off the spinners. He used his feet well and got a lot of his sixes in the V, making life difficult for the DC bowlers. The dropped catches didn’t help them either, and they proved to be costly too with Maxwell in single digits at the time and scoring two reverse hits for four between the spills.
An over later, Bharat reached his very first IPL fifty, a commendable one at that. The boundaries kept coming for both the batters out in the middle. They’d brought the required run rate which hovered around 11 at the halfway mark down to just over 10 with three overs to go in the chase.
With 19 required from 12 balls, Anrich Nortje bowled an excellent penultimate over, giving away just four runs and seemingly putting DC back in front. Fifteen were required from the final 6 deliveries and Maxwell began with a four. The pressure was palpable with an uncharacteristic misfield by Axar and a wide off radar by Avesh. With five needed from the final ball, the man of the hour KS Bharat knocked the winning six and sent the RCB camp into jubilation.
KS Bharat (78* off 52) and Glenn Maxwell’s (51* off 33) match-winning stand of 111* had taken the Men in Red to victory in the last league stage game of IPL 2021.
The match didn’t have much effect on the points table though, with the Capitals finishing at the top with 20 points and set to face off against the Super Kings in Qualifier 1 on Super Sunday in Dubai.
Bring. It. On.
View this post on Instagram
Brief Scores
Delhi Capitals 164/5 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 48 off 31, Shikhar Dhawan 43 off 35, Mohammed Siraj 2/25, Dan Christian 1/19); Royal Challengers Bangalore 166/3 in 20 overs (KS Bharat 78* off 52, Glenn Maxwell 51* off 33, Anrich Nortje 2/24, Axar Patel 1/39)
