BENGALURU, India (AP) — Delhi Capitals stretched its winning streak to four games with a six-wicket victory, handing Royal Challengers Bengaluru a second home defeat in the Indian Premier League on Thursday.
Bengaluru wasted opener Phil Salt’s quickfire 37 off 17 balls and was restricted to 163-7. Wrist spinners Vipraj Nigam and Kuldeep Yadav picked up four wickets for just 35 runs in their combined eight overs.
Lokesh Rahul then followed his 77 against Chennai Super Kings with another masterful unbeaten 93 off 53 balls as he led Delhi to 169-4 with more than two overs to spare.
Bengaluru had a chance when Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s two strikes had Delhi stuttering at 58-4 before Rahul and Tristan Stubbs (38 not out) combined in a match-winning unbroken 111-run stand off 55 balls.
Delhi, with eight points from four successive wins, share top spot with Gujarat Titans, which has played one more game.
Bengaluru, with three away wins and two home defeats, is third on six points.
Rahul rules at his favorite ground
Rahul soaked up the pressure of losing early wickets before counterpunching in the second half of Delhi’s impeccable run-chase, with Stubbs also dominating the spin bowlers with reverse sweeps.
Faf du Plessis recovered from a hamstring injury but scored only two off seven balls against his former franchise before he top-edged fast bowler Yash Dayal in the second over.
Jake Fraser-McGurk (7) and Abishek Porel (7) went cheaply, skying catches to wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma off Kumar’s short balls, and captain Axar Patel (15) was taken at long-off as Delhi chase got derailed in the ninth over.
Bengaluru missed a golden opportunity when Rajat Patidar couldn’t cling onto a difficult two-handed running catch off Rahul.
“On a wicket like this, I knew what my pockets were,” Rahul said. “If I wanted to hit a big six, I knew what pockets to target, and (wicket) keeping gave me a feel for where other batters were dismissed and where they hit the sixes.”
Rahul raised his half century off 37 balls but upped the ante when he smashed premier Bengaluru fast bowler Josh Hazlewood for 22 runs in the 15th over, which featured three fours and a six over long off.
Rahul finished with six sixes and seven fours as he shared Delhi’s best fifth-wicket IPL stand with Stubbs.
“Got lucky with the dropped catch,” Rahul said.“This is my ground, my home, know it better than anyone else.”
Bengaluru wastes blazing start
Salt’s assault against Mitchell Starc helped Bengaluru raise the fastest half century by a team in this edition of the IPL, in just three overs, with the Australian paceman's second over going for 30 runs.
Salt hit four fours and three sixes before he was involved in a bizarre run-out when he slipped after Virat Kohli initially went for a tight single but then turned back.
Bengaluru never got back the momentum against spinners Nigam and Yadav before Tim David slammed an unbeaten 37 off 20 balls.
Kohli made 22 off 14 balls.
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The Associated Press
