IPL 2020 | RCB vs DC: 3 reasons that helped Delhi outclass Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers

Delhi Capitals has looked the most balanced side among all teams in the IPL 2020 and on the day it came up against Virat Kohli’s men, the team put all its might on display. Batting first after Virat Kohli sent them in after winning the toss, looking at the past games on the ground but Iyer’s team was up for the game in all departments and defeated the men in red and gold by 59 runs in Dubai.

Here we decipher the reasons that helped Delhi Capitals clinch the contest while the Royal Challengers Bangalore slid tonight.

Rare off day for Navdeep Saini

Navdeep Saini, arguably the chief architect of Royal Challengers' success in the season so far had a bad day on the field against the Delhi Capitals, leaking too many runs without helping the team with any wickets. Introduced in the third over of the inning to stop the onslaught launched by Prithvi Shaw, Saini looked rusty and overcooked the lengths, bowling half volleys one after another. Shaw was set and had too much of a class to miss out on his poor bowling and took him for 14 runs with the help of some delightful shots. 

The night was not going to be any better for Saini who had to deal with the duo of Marcus Stoinis and Rishabh Pant who were on the rampage and he was taken to all parts of the ground for another 16 and 18 runs in his next two overs respectively.

Saini’s off day threw all the bowling plans of RCB under the bus and Delhi ran away with the momentum and even with some acts of damage repair in the end overs, the Delhi side walked to a total of 196 runs.

Marcus Stoinis- Rishabh Pant rampaging partnership

Marcus Stoinis was the saviour of the Delhi side in the first game in this season when conditions were tough to bat on but when he got the chance to go big and display his full repertoire of shots after Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw had given him the platform to dominate the game, he was not to be missed out on the golden opportunity.

He has always been rated as one of the best hitters of the cricket ball and he made sure to make Virat Kohli and the RCB management feel nothing but full of regrets of their decision to release him before the IPL auction last year. He remained not out with a 26-ball-53 and guided the team to a total that demanded excellence in chasing from RCB.

On the other hand, Rishabh Pant started his inning on a watchful note and for once he looked to be stuck and not getting his timing right. But, before the RCB bowlers could mount pressure on him, he unleashed his usual style of batting and started thrashing bowlers around different parts of the ground. He was also instrumental in the partnership with Stoinis and played the role of an anchor perfectly to let the Aussie all-rounder take the centre stage and dismantle the Bangalore’s bowling lineup.

Relentless excellence of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje

After getting caught with the law of average in the last game, Kagiso Rabada was back in his beast mode and as always Shreyas Iyer used him to get the better of the best batsman in the opposition line up. In the match against Bangalore, Rabada was assigned the task of dismissing a well-set Virat Kohli and like he has been pudding in the season so far, did not disappoint his captain. 

He was not finished for the night and came back to kill any chance of magic the RCB could hope for by dismissing Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube, the last batting pair in the opposition line up. His figure at the end of the game read 24/4 from his full quota of four overs and as they say, ‘numbers don’t lie’, it established the fact about Rabada’s rise as a bowler in the T-20 format.

In the last game, Anrich Nortje had stepped up to dismiss Morgan after Rbada started to go all around the park but against the RCB he was the first among the two South Africans to dent the RCB’s chance of chasing down a mammoth total of 197. He was introduced in the last over of the mandatory power play and he got the better of AB De Villiers and it looked like RCB could not quite get on with the game after his dismissal.

Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have set the template for the success of Delhi Capitals in the ongoing season and they have set the standards on how the stroke bowlers of the team should bowl in different periods of a game. They have been immensely complementary to each other in the season so far.

Delhi Capitals is sitting dominatingly at the top of the IPL 2020 points table, winning four out of the five matches they have played in this season so far and the team has looked in the form to deliver on the promises it had shown on paper before the commencement of this season of the IPL.

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