Marcus Stoinis notched up a half-century before Kagiso Rabada shone with the bowl to help Delhi Capitals crush Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 59 runs in Match 19 of the ongoing 13th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday.
The Virat Kohli-led side won the toss and asked Delhi Capitals to bat first.
Openers Prithvi Shaw (23-ball 42) and Shikhar Dhawan (28-ball 32) provided a perfect start to the Shreyas Iyer-led team by stitching a 68-run stand for the opening wicket.
After the dismissal of the two openers, skipper Shreyas Iyer–who had pulled back a sublime knock off 88 runs in their last fixture against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), failed to click with the bat and departed cheaply for 11 runs.
Subsequently, Stoinis (26-ball 53) not only smashed a half-century but also stitched a crucial partnership of 89 runs with wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant (37) to help Delhi Capitals post a good score of 196 for four.
For RCB, Mohammed Siraj claimed two wickets, while Isuru Udana and Moeen Ali chipped in with a wicket each.
In reply, Kagiso Rabada proved to be a tormentor-in-chief for Delhi Capitals as he finished with brilliant figures of four for 24 to help his side restrict RCB to a score of 137 for nine in their stipulated 20 overs.
Besides Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Axar Patel grabbed two wickets each, while Ravichandran Ashwin also contributed with a wicket.
Skipper Virat Kohli was the top scorer for the RCB with 39-ball 43 runs.
En route to his knock, Kohli also became the first Indian batsman to reach 9,000-run mark in T20s.The swashbuckling batsman, who was just 10 runs shy of the landmark heading into the clash, achieved the feat by hammering Harshal Patel for a boundary on the first ball of the fifth over.
The victory saw the Delhi Capitals climp up to the top spot in the IPL standings. The Iyer-led team is standing above defending champions Mumbai Indians with four wins from five matches.
Kohli’s franchise, on the other hand, continues to occupy third spot in the IPL table.
Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 196/4 wkts in 20 overs (M Stoinis 53 not out, P Shaw 42, R Pant 37, M Siraj 2/34) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 137/9 in 20 overs (V Kohli 43, K Rabada 4/24, A Patel 2/18, A Nortje 2/22) by 59 runs
