DC vs RCB in 50 Words
In the first innings, Protea Fire came out raging as Nortje (3/33) and Rabada (2/30) helped restrict RCB to 152/7. Dhawan (54 off 41) and Rahane (60 off 46) owned the chase as the real DC stood up to book their spot in Qualifier 1.
Nortje and Rabada - Too Hot to Handle Once More
Shreyas Iyer won a pivotal toss and opted to field first considering all the permutations and combinations that would come in with a target on the board. We made three changes - Rahane, Sams and Axar came back into the XI in place of Harshal, Hetmyer and Dubey.
Daniel Sams took the new ball with Josh Philippe to face, a sight we’ve seen in numerous Sydney derbies. This time, they were ready to go up against each other for Delhi and Bangalore respectively in a virtual decider in their first ever Dream11 IPL.
It was a tidy start from Sams and Ashwin, giving away just 16 runs in 3 overs to the RCB openers. Kagiso Rabada hadn’t picked up a wicket in the powerplay so far in the tournament. He erased that anomaly with his very first delivery on the night, getting Philippe to mistime a lofted drive as Shaw completed the catch.
Barring a few crisp boundaries from Padikkal and Kohli, it was a decent powerplay for us with Bangalore putting up 40/1 on the board. The spinners started bowling in tandem right after the sixth over and kept things as tight as they could, going at less than a run a ball for the next four overs. Axar would have also gotten rid of Virat Kohli, had Nortje held on to a catch running in from long on. Kohli was on 13 at the time.
It seemed like Virat would make us pay heavily for the drop with a drive crunched over the covers and a maximum over long on in the next two overs. However, Ashwin won the battle against him as he departed for 29 after a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket by Marcus Stoinis. For the first time in the IPL, Ashwin had gotten the wicket of Virat Kohli.
20 runs came off the next two overs as RCB lifted themselves up to 103/2 from 15 overs. Anrich Nortje came back to bowl an eventful 16th over. It started with Shreyas Iyer almost pulling off a mind-blowing catch to dismiss de Villiers running back from mid-off. AB mistimed one for six off the next ball, but Nortje roared back to dismiss Padikkal with a 152 kmph ripper right at the stumps and send Morris back to the dugout with a short one.
Daniel Sams had an ordinary night out with the ball after the opening spell as Dube and de Villiers got away two fours and a six in the 18th over and Sams finished his spell with figures of 0/40. The duo upped the ante well in the death overs, taking even Rabada for a monster six and a four before KG came back to account for Dube.
Anrich Nortje was executing his skills to perfection, beating AB with a slower one off the first ball of the final over before Rahane ran him out on the second. Nortje picked up his third wicket in the form of Udana and gave away only six runs in the final over as RCB finished with 152/7.
Gabbar + Jinks = All Class
We started the chase on the front foot literally and figuratively, with Dhawan timing a couple of beautiful boundaries in the first over. Prithvi Shaw flicked two deliveries to the fence in the second over. Just when it looked like Shaw had found his groove again, Siraj got him out with a jaffa.
Shikhar Dhawan was definitely back to his best. He showed no signs of stopping, putting away bad balls to the boundary with ease. Ajinkya Rahane too joined the party, scoring three boundaries all filled with signature timing and class. The powerplay was a fruitful one for us with the scoreboard reading 53/1 at the end of it.
Shikhar brought up the fifty run stand with Rahane in the ninth over with a sweep for four. The running between the wickets was top drawer, and so was the shot selection. At the halfway mark, the score had already moved to 81/1 and Dhawan had crossed a significant milestone for the season too.
The experienced pair had put us in the driver’s seat and were in cruise control. Both of them took a liking to Udana and were reading his slower deliveries well and putting them to the fence with ease. Jinks was lofting the pacers and the slow bowlers over the field and over the fence beautifully, and when he does it, you cannot help but admire the sheer elegance.
When Gabbar finally got out for a magnificent 54 off 41 and ended the 88-run partnership with Rahane, he had already put us in a commanding position. An undeterred Ajinkya Rahane motored along and notched up his first half-century this season.
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As the run rate dropped a bit with the loss of Dhawan’s wicket, KKR fans put their fate into MI and SRH’s hands. Despite losing Skipper Shreyas in the 17th over and Ajinkya Rahane for a splendid 60 off 46 balls in the beginning of the 18th, panic never crept in.
With 15 runs needed from the last two overs, a Stoinis pull over deep square leg all but sealed the deal. Pant and Stoinis knocked over the rest of the runs to win with one whole over to spare and put the much-awaited Q against our name on the points table.
๐ THIS IS THE DILLI WE KNOW ๐#DCvRCB #YehHaiNayiDilli #Dream11IPL
— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from ๐ฆ๐ช) (@DelhiCapitals) November 2, 2020
A night of relief and celebration will have followed. But come the evening of 3rd November, it will be back to business for the DC boys to get prepped for the business end of the tournament - The Dream11 IPL Playoffs beckon.
Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 152-7 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 50 off 41, AB de Villiers 35 off 21, Anrich Nortje 3-33, Kagiso Rabada 2-30); Delhi Capitals 154-4 in 19 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 60 off 46, Shikhar Dhawan 54 off 41, Shahbaz Ahmed 2-26, Washington Sundar 1-24)
DC vs RCB in 50 Words
In the first innings, Protea Fire came out raging as Nortje (3/33) and Rabada (2/30) helped restrict RCB to 152/7. Dhawan (54 off 41) and Rahane (60 off 46) owned the chase as the real DC stood up to book their spot in Qualifier 1.
Nortje and Rabada - Too Hot to Handle Once More
Shreyas Iyer won a pivotal toss and opted to field first considering all the permutations and combinations that would come in with a target on the board. We made three changes - Rahane, Sams and Axar came back into the XI in place of Harshal, Hetmyer and Dubey.
Daniel Sams took the new ball with Josh Philippe to face, a sight we’ve seen in numerous Sydney derbies. This time, they were ready to go up against each other for Delhi and Bangalore respectively in a virtual decider in their first ever Dream11 IPL.
It was a tidy start from Sams and Ashwin, giving away just 16 runs in 3 overs to the RCB openers. Kagiso Rabada hadn’t picked up a wicket in the powerplay so far in the tournament. He erased that anomaly with his very first delivery on the night, getting Philippe to mistime a lofted drive as Shaw completed the catch.
Barring a few crisp boundaries from Padikkal and Kohli, it was a decent powerplay for us with Bangalore putting up 40/1 on the board. The spinners started bowling in tandem right after the sixth over and kept things as tight as they could, going at less than a run a ball for the next four overs. Axar would have also gotten rid of Virat Kohli, had Nortje held on to a catch running in from long on. Kohli was on 13 at the time.
It seemed like Virat would make us pay heavily for the drop with a drive crunched over the covers and a maximum over long on in the next two overs. However, Ashwin won the battle against him as he departed for 29 after a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket by Marcus Stoinis. For the first time in the IPL, Ashwin had gotten the wicket of Virat Kohli.
20 runs came off the next two overs as RCB lifted themselves up to 103/2 from 15 overs. Anrich Nortje came back to bowl an eventful 16th over. It started with Shreyas Iyer almost pulling off a mind-blowing catch to dismiss de Villiers running back from mid-off. AB mistimed one for six off the next ball, but Nortje roared back to dismiss Padikkal with a 152 kmph ripper right at the stumps and send Morris back to the dugout with a short one.
Daniel Sams had an ordinary night out with the ball after the opening spell as Dube and de Villiers got away two fours and a six in the 18th over and Sams finished his spell with figures of 0/40. The duo upped the ante well in the death overs, taking even Rabada for a monster six and a four before KG came back to account for Dube.
Anrich Nortje was executing his skills to perfection, beating AB with a slower one off the first ball of the final over before Rahane ran him out on the second. Nortje picked up his third wicket in the form of Udana and gave away only six runs in the final over as RCB finished with 152/7.
Gabbar + Jinks = All Class
We started the chase on the front foot literally and figuratively, with Dhawan timing a couple of beautiful boundaries in the first over. Prithvi Shaw flicked two deliveries to the fence in the second over. Just when it looked like Shaw had found his groove again, Siraj got him out with a jaffa.
Shikhar Dhawan was definitely back to his best. He showed no signs of stopping, putting away bad balls to the boundary with ease. Ajinkya Rahane too joined the party, scoring three boundaries all filled with signature timing and class. The powerplay was a fruitful one for us with the scoreboard reading 53/1 at the end of it.
Shikhar brought up the fifty run stand with Rahane in the ninth over with a sweep for four. The running between the wickets was top drawer, and so was the shot selection. At the halfway mark, the score had already moved to 81/1 and Dhawan had crossed a significant milestone for the season too.
The experienced pair had put us in the driver’s seat and were in cruise control. Both of them took a liking to Udana and were reading his slower deliveries well and putting them to the fence with ease. Jinks was lofting the pacers and the slow bowlers over the field and over the fence beautifully, and when he does it, you cannot help but admire the sheer elegance.
When Gabbar finally got out for a magnificent 54 off 41 and ended the 88-run partnership with Rahane, he had already put us in a commanding position. An undeterred Ajinkya Rahane motored along and notched up his first half-century this season.
View this post on Instagram
As the run rate dropped a bit with the loss of Dhawan’s wicket, KKR fans put their fate into MI and SRH’s hands. Despite losing Skipper Shreyas in the 17th over and Ajinkya Rahane for a splendid 60 off 46 balls in the beginning of the 18th, panic never crept in.
With 15 runs needed from the last two overs, a Stoinis pull over deep square leg all but sealed the deal. Pant and Stoinis knocked over the rest of the runs to win with one whole over to spare and put the much-awaited Q against our name on the points table.
๐ THIS IS THE DILLI WE KNOW ๐#DCvRCB #YehHaiNayiDilli #Dream11IPL
— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from ๐ฆ๐ช) (@DelhiCapitals) November 2, 2020
A night of relief and celebration will have followed. But come the evening of 3rd November, it will be back to business for the DC boys to get prepped for the business end of the tournament - The Dream11 IPL Playoffs beckon.
Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 152-7 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 50 off 41, AB de Villiers 35 off 21, Anrich Nortje 3-33, Kagiso Rabada 2-30); Delhi Capitals 154-4 in 19 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 60 off 46, Shikhar Dhawan 54 off 41, Shahbaz Ahmed 2-26, Washington Sundar 1-24)