Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) lost to Delhi Capitals (DC) in their return match of the IPL 2023 as the David Warner-led side hammered them by 7 wickets in chase of 182-run target at the Arun Jaitley stadium in Delhi on May 6.
RCB batted first and posted 181/4 with Virat Kohli making 55 and completing 7000 runs in IPL in due course as well. Mahipal Lomror made 54* and captain Faf du Plessis had contributed 45 as well.
However, Phil Salt smashed DC bowlers everywhere in a scintillating display of hitting, as he scored 87 in 45 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes, while 35* from Rilee Rossouw and 26 from MItchell Marsh meant that RCB was crushed by 7 wickets and DC remained alive in the competition to fight another day.
However, this match wasn’t also without its incident, as Salt went after Siraj in the fifth over. The Englishman smashed back-to-back sixes on the first two balls, followed by a boundary on the third.
The right-arm quick seemed to be ruffled by the onslaught and bowled a bouncer in the next delivery but, it was ruled as a wide.
Siraj then had a spat with Salt and the pacer was seen pointing his finger at the batsman with a frustrated expression on his face.
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After the match, Salt talked about the incident and said: “I am very satisfied with the knock. Obviously, there was a little bit of needle. A lot of our pre-match talk was about really taking it to them, which I felt we did really well. There were a few words and a bit of needle. It spurs on most blokes to be honest, certainly myself.”
"If you take on a side's best bowler and win that particular battle, the message it sends back to the dug-out is one of calm. When that happens, you see guys come out confidently. You saw Marsh hit his second ball for six and Rossouw come out to bat as if he has already faced 30 balls. So that is the method behind it," he added.
However, after the match, when players from two sides were shaking hands, Siraj gave a warm hug to Salt, who reciprocated the gesture. The netizens were surprised with this gesture and they said, “Cricket is the ultimate winner”.
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