IPL 2020 | DC vs RCB: Dhawan, Rahane slot DC into Qualifier 1

Brief Scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore 152/7 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 50, AB de Villiers 35; Anrich Nortje 3-33, Kagiso Rabada 2-30) 

lost to 

Delhi Capitals 154/4 in 19 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 60, Shikhar Dhawan 54; Shahbaz Ahmed 2-30, Washington Sundar 1-24) by 6 wickets

Sheet-anchors Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan compiled patient fifties to eclipse Royal Challengers Bangalore's humdrum 152 as Delhi Capitals set the seal on their admission in the first qualifier of the playoffs. 

RCB, despite the loss, also cut the ticket for the playoffs on the virtue of higher NRR than Kolkata Knight Riders, leaving the purple brigade at the mercy of the last league match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians to ferret their qualification prospects. 

DC needed 134 to reach the next level, which they ticked off in the 17th over. RCB booked their space as well three balls later but couldn't arrest their barren streak, which has now extended to four soul-crushing routs. 

Fortune favours the brave

RCB's new-ball merchants were on the lookout for that jaffa right from the word go.  The result being a cocktail of juicy full-tosses and half-volleys, given the treatment they deserved by Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw. A couple of bewitching flicks suggested towards a homecoming to form, but Mohammed Siraj had other ideas. Upright seam position, gun-barrel straight and jagging away ever-so-slightly after pitching, an absolute ripper to treat the off-stump with contempt. 

Cometh the hour, cometh senior pros

Young blood fizzing to deceive, the seasoned campaigners in DC's engine room brought about a sense of calm. Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan relished a slice of luck en route their 88-run partnership, with a few uncurbed drives keeling in no man's land and french cuts missing the zing bails by a whisker. Save for the ungainly connections, it was percentage cricket at its supreme best. Complacency made its presence felt as Dhawan scooped Shahbaz Ahmed at his own peril after aggregating the half-century milestone. Still, DC were breathing easy with almost three-fourths of the total pocketed in the bag. 

Little oopsy-doopsy, but home safely

Shreyas Iyer couldn't fight the temptation of flexing his six-hitting calibre despite the asking rate tucked under the shoulder, conceding to Ahmed's loopy invitation. 19 required off 18 balls, Rahane's dismissal to an uncharacteristic reverse-sweep pressed the panic button in DC's camp but Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis held their wits to parry the blue jerseys over the line. 

Human resource managers at work

In a virtual do-or-die encounter, both teams had the onus of cherrypicking the most fine-cut diamonds of the lot. DC counted on Ajinkya Rahane's wealth of experience besides reinforcing their bowling depot with left-arm Daniel Sams' variety and Axar Patel's penny-pinching knack. RCB put their faith in Shivam Dubey and Shahbaz Ahmed with an eye on padding some cushion to their lower-order weaponry. 

Two cats on hot bricks

Devdutt Padikkal and Josh Philippe were a bundle of nerves inside the PowerPlay, the willows twisting in arms upon impact to underline a quarrel for rhythm. Kagiso Rabada proved the beneficiary of the scratchiness, not only having Phillipe squirt an ambitious loft to cover but also breaking his wicket drought inside the fielding restrictions in the process. The scoreboard gleaming a staid 40/1, it's safe to say that round one belonged in all fairness to Shreyas Iyer and his troops. 

Kohli a travesty of his former self

RCB have sustained the worst run-rate in the middle period, a record they won't be proud of. And their cautious approach tonight had laid down a fertile ground for DC to tighten the screws. A golden opportunity even fell into their lap when Virat Kohli cue-ended a slog off Axar Patel, but Anrich Nortje made a pig's ear of the chance bolting in from long-on. Much to DC's relief, his faux pas didn't cost them a fortune as Ravichandran Ashwin defeated the skipper in flight to bring mid-wicket into play. The glorious run of 2016 seems like eternities ago. 

Nortje makes amends for dropped catch 

Padikkal, a prime contender of the Emerging Player Award, kept chugging along to rack a 40-ball half-century. Though one couldn't help but wonder why DC refrained from trialling him out with a dose of bouncers. AB de Villiers set a rock-solid base to pummel Nortje over long-off but the express quick dealt a double whammy to leave RCB clutching at straws. His 152.3kmph shooter sent Padikkal's stumps for a walk before Chris Morris fed an outside edge behind in a bid to slash over backward point. Some way to compensate for your butter-fingered error!

ABD cleans the mess to an extent

Shivam Dubey and de Villiers looted 16 off Daniel Sams' 18th to lend RCB a much needed shot in the arm. The power-packed southpaw jabbed a short delivery from Rabada straight down Ajinkya Rahane's gullet at backward square as de Villers bit the dust in an attempt to retain the strike for 35. A below-par number served RCB well for trodding water during the middle-phases.

Delicacies on the menu-card

Delhi Capitals will meet Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 1 on November 5 in Dubai. Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, will stay back in Abu Dhabi to engage into conflict with either KKR or SRH on November 6 in the Eliminator, determined by the result of tomorrow's feud between MI and SRH.

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