RCB stifle Daredevils but finish last
It was all — and only — about the numbers, and in the end it were Royal Challengers Bangalore who emerged on the winning side in what was an inconsequential match of the IPL-10 here on Sunday night. For the record, RCB won by 10 runs.
The play-offs spots were already decided and the result was not even going to make a difference in their final standings — Delhi finishing sixth and RCB ending a miserable last — in the eight-team competition.
Chasing 162 after RCB’s big bats — skipper Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle — finally got going, Delhi managed 151.
Medium pacer Harshal Patel’s 3/43 condemned Delhi to their eighth loss in another disappointing campaign.
Delhi’s chase mirrored RCB’s effort earlier in the match as they struggled to force the pace, despite Rishabh Pant’s 45 (34b, 3x4, 2x6). They began on a wrong note, losing Sanju Samson of the second ball of their innings. Karun Nair (26, 22b, 5x4) tried to break the shackles, with three fours in
the fifth over but departed failing to connect a cross batted shot, pegging the hosts back at 42/2 after the Powerplay.
Shreyas Iyer (32, 30b, 2x4, 1x6) and Rishabh Pant, slowly gathered momentum till Patel’s double strike in the 12th over gave RCB hope. Once the Iyer-Pant third wicket partnership, yielding 46 off 38 balls, was snapped, it all went downhill for Delhi. Earlier, Virat Kohli’s belated flourish with the bat saw RCB reach 161/6. The RCB skipper
mixed caution with aggression in a 45-ball 58 (3x4, 3x6), boosting his sagging spirits which came at the end of RCB’s consistent poor showing in the tournament, but just in time for India’s impeding Champions Trophy title defence.