KL Rahul made a wonderful fifty to stabilize DC innings after losing early wickets.
DC asked RCB to bat first after captain Axar Patel won the toss. Phil Salt had the most points with 63, followed by Tim David with 26. Other batsmen got off to a good start but couldn't keep it going as RCB finished with 175/8 in 20 overs. For DC, Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav, and Axar each grabbed two wickets.
As Bhuvneshwar Kumar blew away KL Rahul, he scored a brilliant half-century, scoring 57 runs with 6 fours and 2 sixes. He took DC from 18/3 to 87 runs before his dismissal at the hands of Krunal Pandya.
Ultimately, Tristan Stubbs with 60* in 47 balls, Axar Patel with 26 (retired hurt), and David Miller with 22* in 10 balls won the match for DC with one ball to spare and 6 wickets in hand.
KL Rahul spoke about the game in the post-match presentation due to Axar Patel’s injury and was asked about his planting the bat celebration, something he did last year after taking DC to a win over RCB at the same ground.
“That was a one-time thing only. (Not today then?) No. No. Yeah, it is. I think, you know, the wicket did a little bit early on. I could see Virat and Phil Salt not happy with the way the ball was coming on. And yeah, and us losing three wickets in the first six doesn't make it easy for us. So yeah, it was, I think, all in all a really good cricket game,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
He talked about stabilizing the innings with Tristan Stubbs as DC lost three quick wickets at the start.
“Not really. I mean, the conversation was to continue to play good cricket shots and see how we can find boundaries and how we can still put the pressure on the bowlers. We didn't want to go into our shell, and then the run rate kept climbing up; it got harder and harder towards the end. We saw that when we bowled as well, when there was a little bit of reverse swing as well, and the bowlers were, the opposition had some really good death bowlers as well. So, we didn't want to take it too deep. We just wanted to stay in the moment, take it one over at a time, and try to put pressure on the bowlers. And yeah, he hit some good shots. I hit some good shots,” Rahul added.
It was a nervy finish for DC as David Miller and Tristan Stubbs combined to score more than 40 runs in the last 4 overs to win the game. Rahul was asked about tension and nerves in the DC dressing room, as they had lost a close game against the Gujarat Titans recently.
“No, there was faith in Stubbs and Miller. They do this on a daily basis for South Africa and franchise cricket. So, we also knew that the last over was going to be a gamble for RCB as well. And we knew that probably Romario Shepherd would bowl or maybe Suyash would bowl, which gives our batters a good chance to hit two sixes in the last over. So yeah, ideally, we wouldn't have wanted it to go till the 20th over, but we'll take the win,” Rahul concluded.