Shreyas Iyer led from the front with a brilliant half-century as Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by four wickets in a lopsided Indian Premier League (IPL) tie at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, here on Sunday.
RCB have now lost all their six matches in this year's IPL, as they remained at the foot of the points table, while Delhi bounced back after losing their last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Chasing a modest 150 for victory, Delhi always had the measure of the game and eventually won with seven balls to spare.
Iyer (67; 50b, 4x8, 6x2) made the most of a reprieve -- he was dropped on four by Parthiv Patel in the first over off Tim Southee -- to bring up his 11th fifty in the IPL as he joined hands with Prithvi Shaw for a 68-run second wicket partnership.
The 24-year old paced his innings expertly, but got out in the end while trying to pull Navdeep Saini only to get caught at short cover by Yuzvendra Chahal in the 18th over.
There was a little flutter when Chris Morris (0) was dismissed in the same over and then Rishabh Pant (18) too departed in the next. But Axar Patel hit a four off Mohammed Siraj to close the game.
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Off-colour Shikhar Dhawan was out for a golden duck, getting caught at point off Pawan Negi. But that was the only time RCB could make merry as Delhi never let the game slip once Iyer and Shaw got going.
In the third over, Shaw displayed strokeplay of the highest order, striking Southee for four consecutive boundaries with the fifth one going down the fine leg region for four leg byes.
Southee got his line all wrong as Shaw first chipped him through deep midwicket before pulling a length ball off his hips.
The U-19 World Cup winning captain, who is rated very highly, underlined his rich potential with a delicate cut off the third ball and then repeated the stroke, much to the dismay of a hapless Virat Kohli.
Delhi raced to 53/1 in six overs, but Shaw could not continue his good show as he top-edged Negi to Akshdeep Nag at deep square leg.
Colin Ingram (22) and Iyer then added 39 runs for the third wicket, which took the game completely out of RCB's control.
Earlier, Kagiso Rabada scalped four wickets to restrict RCB to 149/8.
The South Africa pacer (4/21) bowled a brilliant 18th over to snare three wickets, including that of Kohli's, to stem RCB's run flow. In the final over, he gave away just seven runs.
Kohli top-scored with a patient 41 off 33 balls (4x1, 6x2), but the other batsmen let him down. The RCB skipper was also kept out of the strike for most part of his innings.
Delhi were in complete control throughout the RCB innings, barring the short span of time when when Moeen Ali clobbered a 18-ball 32 (4x1, 6x3).
RCB were off to a stuttering start, losing opener Parthiv Patel (9) early as the in-form stumper-batsman slashed a wide Sandeep Lamichhane (1/46) delivery straight to Chris Morris at third man.
AB de Villiers (17) failed to continue the fireworks from the last game and holed out to Colin Ingram at long on off Rabada.
Marcus Stoinis (15) hit a six and looked good during his short stay at the crease, but was dismissed when he pulled Axar Patel (1/22) from outside the off-stump only to be caught by Rahul Tewatia at long on.
Ali and Kohli then joined hands for a 37-run fourth wicket stand. But once the two got out, the hosts' charge ended.
Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 149/8 (Virat Kohli 41; Kagiso Rabada 4/21) lost to Delhi Capitals: 152/6 in 18.5 overs (Shreyas Iyer 67, Navdeep Saini 2/24) by 4 wickets
--IANS
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