Karthik belts out yet another masterclass as RCB downs Delhi Capitals

It seems that the Royal Challengers Bangalore is making a habit of miraculous turnarounds as they secured their fourth win of the season, romping over the Delhi Capitals emphatically.

The game had several twists and turns and the momentum kept on oscillating left and right with the equation boiling down to an extent where the game could have swung either way with RCB needing a heroic showdown in the final three overs of the match.

Talking about heroes, it just feels that RCB has found a couple of unlikely names to be their saviours where their paragons have somehow managed to find themselves in a limbo that at the moment remains unsolved.

The Challengers were put to bat first by Rishabh Pant after winning the toss and the Capitals swarmed over the cream of the RCB batting as three early blows reduced the Challengers to a deja-vu of an earlier collapse. Shardul Thakur dealt the first blow of the night as Anuj Rawat was completely beaten for pace. Skipper Faf du Plessis got out trying to steer Khaleel Ahmed to the ropes.

Just when it felt that Kohli and Maxwell were putting together a decent show, the hammer fell the hardest with Virat Kohli being run out by an electric piece of fielding from Lalit Yadav. As the RCB pecking order teetered along the fringes of a collapse, Glenn Maxwell started bringing out the heavy artillery, taking the fight right to the heart of the Capitals.

Suyash hung around for a while and tried to pull off an outrageous switch-hit against Axar Patel but was completely beaten for pace as Kuldeep Yadav grabbed a decent catch to complete the dismissal. Shahbaz was up next and he was once again shouldered with the herculean responsibility of anchoring the knock while Maxwell went for the onslaught.

Despite conjuring a brilliant half-century that came off just 34 balls, Maxwell failed to sustain his knock as Kuldeep avenged his earlier humiliation with a slower ball that was completely misread by the Great Showman. Dinesh Karthik joined Shahbaz Ahmed in the middle and there was a lot of work left for the Challengers to do as the scorecard read 92 for 5 from 11.2 overs.

Shahbaz and Karthik started slow and weathered the early storm, trading a handful of haymakers cautiously without further damage. The entire complexion of the game turned on its heel in the last 4 overs where Dinesh Karthik took it upon himself to deliver the Challengers right to the gates of a momentous total.

He showed absolutely zero mercy to any bowler on his way and Musatfizur Rahman faced the maximum brunt of the marauding RCB finisher as he hammered him for 28 runs in an over, setting the platform perfectly for further pyrotechnics. Shahbaz Ahmed held the innings perfectly at the other end as he bashed home a fine 32 which came off just 21 balls, starring 3 fours and a six.

Dinesh Karthik stayed unbeaten for the fourth time in five innings with a blistering 66 from just 34 balls that saw him whacking 5 fours and 5 sixes. It felt like magic for the Challengers as they witnessed an incredulous turnaround that saw them hammering 189 from a terrifying stage that had an apocalypse penned all over it.

The Capitals were off to a seraphic start that saw David Warner and Prithvi Shaw whipping the RCB bowlers with extreme prejudice in the powerplay. It was Mohammed Siraj who applied the first brakes in Delhi’s effusive run-flow with the all-important scalp of Prithvi Shaw as Anuj Rawat picked up an excellent low catch.

Despite David Warner driving the chase from one end, RCB started tightening the noose at the other with Mitchell Marsh struggling vehemently against the rising asking rate. It was Sri Lanka talisman, Wanindu Hasaranga who delivered the deafening blow as he foxed David Warner and the latter completely missed his line, getting out for a well-played 66.

The boundaries started drying up for the Capitals as the RCB bowling was bang on their money. Glenn Maxwell and Shahbaz Ahmed came back strongly in their second overs to drive the chase to the very edge for the Capitals.

It was Mohammed Siraj who got back his rhythm as he netted the big fish of Rishabh Pant but the wicket would share its credits equally with Virat Kohli who pulled off a superhuman effort to remove the dangerous-looking Delhi Capitals skipper. It was the Australian quick, Josh Hazlewood who emerged as the pick of the lot with three crucial wickets while leaking only 28 runs.

His last two overs were a thing of beauty for the sore eyes as he cemented RCB’s win with the important wickets of Rovman Powell and Lalit Yadav, two marauding strikers of the cherry who could have easily shaped the fate of the game in another direction, had they gotten going.

The Challengers have now moved up to the third position on the points table and levelled their number of wins to four alongside the Gujarat Titans and the Lucknow Super Giants with a healthy net run rate of +0.142. They will be up against the Lucknow Super Giants in their next encounter that is slated to be played on Tuesday.