Delhi Capitals’ batting might has turned up a little late in the tournament, but they gave their home crowd a dazzling display of boundary hitting, the centerpiece of which was Phil Salt‘s 87 off 45 balls, to finish off a chase of 182 against RCB with 20 balls to spare.
After three ducks and only one score over 10 in his last five T20 innings, Salt sent five of his six sixes over the leg-side boundary during at assault that featured a lot of horizontal-bat shots.
The Capitals chase got going with their first half-century opening stand of the season, and Salt kept attacking to bring the asking rate under six in almost no time. They raced to 70 in the Powerplay, 115 at the halfway mark with Salt’s 28-ball fifty, before plundering 24 runs off a Harshal Patel over to reduce the chase to 32 off 42 balls.
Salt was eventually bowled for 87, but his eight fours and six sixes helped Capitals beat RCB for the first time in three years. It was Capitals’ fourth win in their last five games, and lifted them off the bottom of the table.
DC’s best Powerplay
The Capitals chase was unlike any of their batting displays this season. David Warner began with two fours off the first three balls from Mohammed Siraj, before sweeping Wanindu Hasaranga‘s first ball for six in the fourth over. In between, Salt took on Josh Hazlewood for two fours before a feisty fifth over from Siraj.
Salt top-edged the first ball for six over the wicketkeeper, slapped the second one over cover and into the stands, and then flicked one bounce into the square-leg boundary. Siraj responded with a bouncer that was called wide and there followed a heated conversation between the bowler and the batter, and some animated finger-pointing from Siraj towards both Salt and Warner.
Warner skied a catch off Hazlewood for 22 off 14 in the last over of the powerplay but Mitchell Marsh ended the over with a big six over midwicket and an edged four to power Capitals to 70 after six overs. They might not have got so much had Dinesh Karthik held on to a tough chance from Salt – an inside edge off Hasaranga – in the fourth over.
Salt’s boundary bonanza
Salt was on 35 off 17 at the time and he threw his bat at anything wayward: wide balls disappeared over cover, short ones were pulled disdainfully, and a few edges also raced to the boundary.
Marsh holed out off a full toss but the attack on RCB’s bowlers did not abate. Salt began the 13th over, from Harshal, with a six over the leg side and Rilee Rossouw smashed two more down the ground, before a misfield on the long-off boundary from Suyash Prabhudessai made it 24 runs off the over.
Salt belted out two more boundaries before falling to Karn Sharma and Rossouw ended the game in the 17th over with his third six.
Kohli and Du Plessis solid but not spectacular
After RCB chose to bat on what was considered to be a slow pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Virat Kohli started by playing nine dot balls in the first three overs, but also found the boundary in each of them.
RCB got a boost when Faf du Plessis struck Mukesh Kumar for three fours in the fifth over before he hit Khaleel Ahmed for a straight six and a four to make it 51 from the powerplay.
Marsh goes bang, bang
Kohli and du Plessis batted into the 11th over of the innings, when Marsh had du Plessis caught slapping a short and wide slower ball to deep point. He then had Glenn Maxwell caught first ball to reduce RCB to 82 for 2. Kohli was on 36 of 31 at the other end, and the run rate dipped slightly.
Mahipal Lomror lifts RCB
Mahipal Lomror raised the tempo of RCB’s innings quickly. He pulled his fifth ball for six off Kuldeep Yadav, and used the reverse-sweep and the loft down the ground to find the boundary, before pulling Marsh for another six to lift the run rate over eight an over.
Kohli, meanwhile, found short fine leg for 55 off 46 and RCB were 137-3 with four overs left. Lomror didn’t get a lot of support and ended up doing most of the hitting himself. His two fours off Ishant Sharma, an edge for four off Khaleel, along with Dinesh Karthik’s six helped RCB collect 29 runs from the 17th and 18th overs.
Mukesh then nailed a few yorkers and Khaleel used his cutters to keep RCB to 15 off the last two. Kohli said he thought 181 was a good score during the innings break, but the Capitals ran down the target with ease. (ESPNcricinfo)
