Dubai, October 8: A disciplined bowling effort in the final 10 overs helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) restrict Delhi Capitals to 164/5 in Match 56 of IPL 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai on Friday (October 8).
RCB bowlers led by Mohammed Siraj (2 for 25) fought back after DC openers Prithvi Shaw (48 off 31 balls) and Shikhar Dhawan (43 off 35 balls) added 88 runs for the first wicket in the first 10 overs.
Apart from Dhawan and Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer also got among the runs as he played a knock of 29 from 22 balls, while Shreyas Iyer scored a run-a-ball 18. Harshal Patel (1 for 34), Yuzvendra Chahal (1 for 34) and Daniel Christian (1 for 19) were also among wickets for RCB.
Sent into bat, Delhi Capitals got off to a brilliant start as openers Dhawan and Shaw put on 55 runs inside the first six overs. Both batters continued till the 10-over mark and as a result, Delhi was sitting nicely at 88/0.
However, the very first ball of the 11th over brought about Dhawan's (43) dismissal as he was sent back to the pavilion by Purple Cap holder Harshal Patel.
Soon after, Prithvi Shaw (48) and Rishabh Pant (10) were dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal and Daniel Christian leaving Delhi Capitals at 108/3 in the 13th over.
In the end, Hetmyer played a quickfire cameo of 29 runs to propel Delhi's total past the 160-run mark. Ripal Patel, who played his second match in IPL, was unbeaten on 7 from 7 balls.
Earlier at the toss for RCB vs DC, after opting to bowl first RCB skipper Kohli said: "The pitch does look a little bit dry. They've left enough grass in the game to sustain. Later in the second half the pitch settles down a little bit.
"It's been hard work adjusting to all kinds of surfaces, and the teams that have done so have qualified. Some experiments come off, some don't. We come into this game feeling balanced about our lineup. Same team."
Meanwhile, DC captain Pant said: "Pitch looks dry, would've looked to bat. Looking to improve each and every day as a batting unit. Right now we're going fine. Same team."