KL Rahul returns to his home ground in Bengaluru in sensational style, smashing an unbeaten 53-ball 93 to dig his side out of a hole.
Starting from Smriti Mandhana and Co in the Women’s Premier League, to two matches into the Indian Premier League season, Royal Challengers Bengaluru haven’t yet won a match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. After a former player in Mohammed Siraj ran through them in the previous fixture when Gujarat Titans won, it was another one of their own in KL Rahul on Thursday as Delhi Capitals won their fourth straight game, chasing down 164 in 17.5 overs. The result meant that DC continued their perfect start to the season with four wins in four, while RCB lose both their first two matches at home.
KL Rahul masterclass
After he hit the winning six, KL Rahul took his helmet off, drew a circle on the ground with his bat, planted it in the middle to mark his territory and, as he went to embrace Tristan Stubbs, mouthed the words: ‘This is my ground.’
It was a strong display of emotion from the usually reserved Rahul, and it marked back-to-back match-winning knocks even as he continued to move around the batting order. At his home ground, he put on an absolute masterclass of batting to guide DC to an impressive win on what was largely a difficult night to bat on. Having walked out to bat in the third over at No 4 with DC in early trouble – and after opening in the previous match – Rahul once again showed why he is Mr. Flexible in Indian cricket. He got going with a delightful off-drive for four off Bhuvneshwar Kumar but was soon offered a reprieve when a hoick – one of the rare mishit shots off his bat – was put down by a diving Rajat Patidar. With Axar Patel too departing, Rahul dropped the anchor for a bit to ensure DC didn’t lose too many wickets.
Game-changer KL Rahul’s match-winning knock of 93*(53)
WATCH the scintillating innings #TATAIPL | #RCBvDC | @DelhiCapitals | @klrahul
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In the 12th and 13th over, Rahul decided to shift gears. A superb slog sweep off a length ball from Krunal Pandya went for six over square leg. And as Liam Livingstone came on to bowl the 13th, Rahul identified an opening again. A rank short ball was placed perfectly between deep midwicket and long on for a four, then came an elegant dance-down-the-track lofted shot that cleared the sight-screen. With 13 runs off Krunal’s over and 14 off Livingstone’s, DC finally had momentum in the chase. The required rate after that was exactly 10 runs-per-over.
Then came the game-changing 15th over. Patidar went to Josh Hazlewood, and the ground staff got ready to bring the covers on as it started to drizzle. The DLS par score was 107 and DC were on 99. Rahul then smashed Hazlewood around the park with laser-like precision – two fours through square on the leg side, one behind square on the offside, and a six down the ground. It was a 22-run over that pushed DC to 121/4, now 6 runs above par. Just like that, the pendulum swung DC’s way. From there, Rahul and Stubbs didn’t take the foot off the pedal to finish the match with 13 balls to spare.
“It was a slightly tricky wicket, but what helped me was being behind the stumps for 20 overs and just watching how the wicket played,” Rahul said. “The ball sat in the pitch a little bit, but it was consistent throughout; it wasn’t two-paced. I knew what my scoring pockets were. Got lucky with the dropped catch. But yeah, this is my ground, this is my home. I know this better than anybody else.”
One freak powerplay over
Across both innings combined, in 12 overs of powerplay bowling, there was one freak sequence of six balls from Mitch Starc that went for a whopping 30 runs. The remaining 11 overs saw a total of 73 runs and five wickets, including a wicket maiden from Mukesh Kumar for DC to close out RCB’s powerplay. Starc, on his return to the Chinnaswamy Stadium at the IPL, has had a good start to the season, looking largely in great rhythm. But Phil Salt unleashed his fury on the Aussie quick. First ball of the third over, Salt went over long on for a 79m six. Starc stuck to a similar full length but went wider, and Salt sliced it over point for four. Perhaps still hoping for swing, Starc continued to err on the fuller side, and there was another boundary past mid-on. A no ball next up, which was squeezed past mid off. Then as Salt swung hard at a free hit, the top edge carried all the way behind the stumps. All Starc could manage was a wry smile as he returned to his mark. But, things were about to turn in DC’s favour.
Phil Salt went BOOM on Starc!
A massive 30-run over for #RCB before #DC make a comeback with 2 wickets!
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Run out triggers collapse
That 30-run over off Starc took RCB to a stunning 53/0 after 3 overs. Just when it looked like RCB were laying the foundation for a huge score, in the very next over, Salt had to march back. Having tapped the ball towards cover, both Salt and Virat Kohli took for a single but were guilty of ball-watching before calling it off too late. As Salt turned back, he lost his footing and slipped on the pitch. By the time he recovered, Vipraj Nigam’s throw was collected cleanly by Rahul and the bails were whipped off. It was an ill-judged run by Salt to begin with and Kohli’s hesitancy didn’t help either. From there, RCB lost their way. Devdutt Padikkal fell within the powerplay, and Kohli fell immediately after. After that Starc over, RCB managed just 38 runs in the next 7 overs, losing 4 wickets. Tim David did his bit with a superb late cameo once more, but 163 turned out to be well short.
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Brief Scores: RCB 163/7 (P Salt 37, T David 37 not out; K Yadav 2/18, Vipraj Nigam 2/18) lost to DC 169/4 (KL Rahul 93 not out, T Stubbs 38 not out) by six wickets.