XtraTime Web Desk: Monday saw another one sided match in this year’s Indian Premier League when Delhi Capitals faced the mighty Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Batting first, Delhi had a very strong start. They scored 63 in the powerplay and ended up scoring 196 in the first innings. Marcus Stoinis did some serious damage in the middle. He scored 53 runs in 26 balls while the youngster Prithvi Shaw scored 42 of 23 balls.
Bangalore has hardly there in the game in the 2nd innings. Virat showed some light as he scored 43 of 39 balls but after his departure, Bangalore couldn’t do anything substantial. Kagiso Rabada bowled beautifully in the middle. In his 4 overs, he gave away 24 runs and took 4 wickets. His partner Nortje took 2 and so did Axar Patel. With the superb show by the bowling department, Delhi Capitals won the match by 59 runs.
The losing captain in the post match conference said, “It didn’t go our way. They got off to a great start, in the next eight we pulled them back, but the last chase got away from us. As I said, we need to grab important chances. It is not like we are dropping half chances, but sitters. Again the execution at the end was not spot on.”
Virat also gave an update on Chris Morris. He said, “Chris was really close to playing today but he didn’t really make it. We have four days before the next game so hopefully he will be ready.”
Virat also said, “The good thing is, we have won three out of five. We know we are playing good cricket. We just need to be professional in those big moments. The conversation around chasing has been to have one big partnership. Wtih dew setting in, if you have eight wicket sin hand in the last 10, the game is on even if you need 100 or more.”
The Indian captain is also impressed by the performance of their opposition. “DC are playing some really good cricket. Their batting is fearless. They have got pace, they have got good spinners. I won’t say they are unbeatable, but they will be hard to beat. Against this side, you have to bring your A game. We didn’t tonight.”
There were a lot of Man of the Match credentials in today’s match. However, Axar Patel was given the award because of his tight bowling in the powerplay and obviously for his general performance. He said that he was ready to do the job in powerplay.“The way the wicket was, I knew it was holding up. So I was ready to bowl in the Powerplay. And you can see the results for yourself.”
When asked about his plans seeing the wicket, he said, “I spoke to the batsmen who told me it was stopping at them. So my plan was to bowl my stock ball, but bowl them within the stumps and also keep changing the pace. I was looking to defend when I just started, but when the third ball turned, I changed gears and got into attack mode.”
The winning captain Shreyas Iyer was quite happy how his team is performing in every match. He said, “Getting four out of five, I will take that any day. Kudos to the boys. Also the temperament shown in pressure situations.”
When asked about the strategy Delhi Capitals is using, Iyer said, “Strategy was to play with freedom and be fearless. We have got good youngsters in our team who are filled with energy. Just that we have to go out and execute our talent and skill.”
Delhi Capitals won’t be getting the service from Amit Mishra as the leg-spinner is ruled for the remainder of the season because of an injury. “It is really saddening when your senior-most player who has been doing so well misses out. We will miss him, but we have got good replacements as well.”
Kagiso Rabada was also satisfied with this performance. He said, “I think it was a really good win tonight. After that win at Sharjah it gave us a lot of confidence against a team like RCB who have some really good batsmen. It also gives us massive confidence having won today.”
Asking about his plans for the match, Rabada said, “I don’t really plan to get wickets, you can only control in which areas to bowl. It was swinging a bit, so it would have been nice to bowl the second over. I don’t think it was a bad call to take me off after the first over. At the end of the day it worked out. I think if you want to be the best you have to adjust to the conditions.”