KL Rahul was named the player of the match for his match-winning knock. He remained unbeaten till the end of the innings and scored 93 runs. The right-handed batter put on a show to make RCB and their fans regret for not going after him at the auction late last year. Rahul smashed seven fours and six sixes in his 53-ball knock.
Kuldeep Yadav was the pick of the bowler in the match. The left-arm spinner put on a display of variations to bamboozle the RCB middle-order. He picked up two wickets dismissing Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma. Both Patidar and Jitesh played great knocks in the previous game against Mumbai Indians. Kuldeep bowled with great control as well and gave away only 17 runs in his spell.
Vipraj Nigam like his experienced teammate was right on the money in the first innings. Vipraj has shown that he is a three-dimensional player. In the first game, he played a match-winning cameo. In the following game, the youngster affected a great run out to dismiss Abhishek Sharma. Tonight, he was brilliant with the ball in hand. He got the big fish, Virat Kohli for his wicket of the night. In his second spell, the leg-spinner accounted for Krunal Pandya’s wicket. Like Kuldeep, Vipraj also bowled with immense control giving away only 18 runs. His fielding was responsible for triggering the collapse as Nigam ran Phil Salt out.
The first innings got off to a flier for the hosts. The opening duo of Phil Salt and Virat Kohli raced to 53 runs in the first three overs and brought up the quickest team 50 of the season. It was also their second-fastest team fifty for the hosts. However, all went downhill in the next over.
Phil Salt was dismissed via runout which triggered a collapse. The DC spinners got into their groove as the pitch started to grip and turn. Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam registered figures of 8-0-35-4. They outfoxed the RCB batters as the hosts struggled to tackle their turn.
It was a classy knock by KL Rahul once again as he played a match-winning knock. The clash was being played at his home ground and the 32-year-old showed that he knew the pitch and the conditions like the back of his hand. DC was put in a tough situation early in the chase as they lost four wickets with only 58 runs on the board.
However, Rahul and Tristan Stubbs put on a 111-run unbeaten stand for the fifth wicket. While Rahul was going all guns blazing at the end of his innings, Stubbs too played a huge supporting role. The South African batter went just above the run-a-ball rate for the majority of his innings. But once KL had taken DC ahead of the asking rate he too played his shots and ended up scoring 38 runs in 23 balls.
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