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Pandya, Kohli take RCB to key win over Delhi

rugby27 April 2025 18:44| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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A splendid unbeaten 73 in 47 balls (9x4s, 4x6s) from Krunal Pandya enabled the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to beat the Delhi Capitals by six wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in their Tata IPL clash on Sunday night.

The win gave RCB their sixth consecutive away victory and propelled them to the top of the IPL table with 14 points.

Their dream of a first IPL title remains vibrantly alive.

Facing a target of 163 for victory on a slow, sticky pitch that made fluent strokeplay difficult, RCB got off to a poor start when they lost three wickets inside the power play.

Jacob Bethell, making his IPL debut in place of a sick Phil Salt, started well by plundering boundaries off Mitchell Starc, but then clothed a pull to deep square leg off Axar Patel where Karun Nair dived forward to take a fine low catch.

Nair then claimed a second wicket in his first over when he induced Devdutt Padikkal to play on off the inside edge.

To make matters worse for RCB, their skipper, Rajat Patidar was then brilliantly run out when Nair threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end with Patidar caught napping after backing up too much.

At 26 for three after four overs, the RCB innings was in crisis.

But then Virat Kohli, who loves nothing better than a run chase, was joined by a promoted Pandya and the pair played outstanding cricket to add 119 in 84 balls for the fourth wicket. 

With Kohli content to provide the glue, it was Pandya who provided the main injection of aggression, finally finishing with an unbeaten 73 in 47 balls, including five fours and four sixes.

The left-hander rode his luck at times, being dropped by Abishek Porel on 54, but he thoroughly deserved his fortune with his brave strokeplay.

Pandya lost Kohli in the 18th over, caught in the deep for an invaluable 51 in 47 balls – his sixth 50 in this IPL and his fourth in a run chase – but Aussie Tim David made light of that, striking three fours and a six in his unbeaten 19 in five balls, helping his team over the line with a comfortable nine balls in hand.

For Delhi, Patel was the most successful bowler with 2-19 off his four overs.

He was assisted by Kuldeep Yadav (0-28 off four) but all the other bowlers proved expensive.

KUMAR IMPRESSES WITH THE BALL

Earlier, Delhi found it hard to score freely after RCB had put them in to bat.

Faf du Plessis, making his first appearance in more than two weeks because of injury, showed some rust as he laboured for 26 balls to score 22 runs before perishing in the deep off that man Pandya who completed a match-winning performance with 1-28 off his four overs of left-arm spin.

Even the in-form KL Rahul was unable to really build the kind of momentum required, scoring his 41 in 39 balls.

It was left to South African batter Tristan Stubbs to give the innings some real propulsion, striking 34 in 18 balls as the innings ended with a flourish.

But, from Delhi’s point of view, it was too little too late.

Pandya was given valuable assistance by fellow spinner Suyash Sharma (0-22 off four), while Josh Hazlewood, aside from one expensive over, did well to claim 2-36.

The most eye-catching performance, however, was veteran paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar who finished with 3-33, including 3-8 off his last two overs.

DELHI CAPITALS: Faf du Plessis, Abishek Porel, Karun Nair, KL Rahul (wk), Axar Patel (capt), Tristan Stubbs, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Virat Kohli, Jacob Bethell, Rajat Patidar (capt), Romario Shepherd, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Suyash Sharma, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal.

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