Phil Salt leads Delhi Capitals' takedown of RCB
DC finally rise from the bottom after winning four of their last five games
DC finally rise from the bottom after winning four of their last five games
Scorer: K Vairavan | Commentator: Abhimanyu Bose
11.25pm So that's that then. Lots to talk about, starting with Kohli's innings, the RCB bowlers being taken apart in the powerplay and Delhi Capitals' newfound confidence with the bat. Vishal's report is in, and there will be more to read on the game. For now, it's me (Abhimanyu) signing off on behalf of Vishal, Vairavan and everyone else at ESPNcricinfo.
The player of the match, unsurprisingly, is Phil Salt. Here's what he has to say: "We spoke about being positive and taking them on. We saw how good they were in Bangalore when they had their tails up. Something that's a real strength of mine is that if I really get going I don't take my foot off the pedal too often. We knew the wicket is a little slow and low and we knew that realistically we would slow down in the middle. I thought it was par. I thought we would have to bat really well to get there but the boys came out swinging and we got it done. [On Marsh] He came in and hit the second ball for six or something like that and put the bowlers on the back foot."
Delhi Capitals captain, David Warner: "It was absolutely amazing. I thought 180 was possible. The ball started skidding on nicely. We said from the outset that we wanted to try and target Siraj. That was our intention. We knew he has been bowling really well and been their backbone so if we could just take him on, it would work in our favour. Credit to the bowlers. They have been brilliant. They defended 130 twice. We have a strong Indian bowling unit with Ishant and Khaleel. And we are looking like a good team now."
11.12pm Time for the presentation ceremony
Aswin: "No talk of Virat's innings? Hugely negative impact as even seen in the MVP list" Indeed, the slowdown cost RCB.
Mayank: "I am more interested in knowing if Kohli shook hands with ganguly" I can confirm that the two did shake hands.
Rilee Rossouw: "Fantastic result. I think we bowled alright. I thought it was an average score. Salt and Warner got off to a good start and Marsh continued that and I thought I could hopefully knock off what's left. What a great bunch of guys. It's been amazing. It was a pretty tricky pitch. It was very slow and it was gripping, it was turning. I think Salt put in a blinder in the first six otherwise it was a tough wicket. We can't lose another game so we are going out with the freedom to play the way we want to. Just keep going as far as possible and who knows, we get lucky and make the playoffs."
RCB captain, Faf du Plessis: "I thought we were pretty close to par. We thought 185 is a good score. But there was a little bit of dew in the second innings. But we have to give credit to their batters, they played really well. The pressure their batters put on the spinners led to some mistakes. We didn't maximise out innings. At about 12 overs, we felt like 185 was a par score. Obviously you like to have one of those big overs to take you to 200, which would have been a good score. But they made our bowlers sit back a little bit after the powerplay. We felt that we had a good enough foundation for Maxi to come in at three. Very pleased to see Lomror come in at No. 5 and play really well. It was very positive for him. Just hope that at No. 3, someone puts their hands up and scores a lot of runs. They pretty much broke the back of the chase in the first six, the way they were going."
11pm Delhi Capitals will be pumped after their batters finally put on an authoritative show. At the heart of it was Phil Salt, with his 45-ball 87. David Warner and Mitchell Marsh also played some important knocks that ensured they had the momentum with them through the chase. Karthik had dropped Salt early in his innings and that could have proved costly for RCB, who miss a chance to enter the top four. Capitals are keeping their hopes alive.
Scores are level
Just three runs left to win now off the last four overs. Glenn Maxwell will bowl his second
And who has the highest Test batting average without ever scoring a century?
A safety-first template had served them fairly well in earlier games, but its limitations were on view on a dewy night in Delhi
DC finally rise from the bottom after winning four of their last five games
RCB have not lost to Capitals since 2021, and another win will solidify their chances of a top-four finish