"Seeds being sown for a new IPL winner to emerge" - Ravi Shastri on the RCB-DC clash
A humdinger of a contest between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) last night has instilled hope in Team India head coach Ravi Shastri that the Indian Premier League (IPL) will see a new winner emerge this year.
The RCB juggernaut continued its incredible run in the tournament last night. They edged past DC by one run to reclaim the top spot in the IPL points table. Virat Kohli's men have five wins in six games and are firm favorites to make it to the playoffs this season.
A Shimron Hetmyer-inspired Delhi Capitals came agonizingly close to a win. The Caribbean cricketer scored an unbeaten 53 off only 25 deliveries but it was all in vain.
A few uneventful overs after the end of the powerplay and some extremely disciplined bowling by the Challengers resulted in the undoing of Rishabh Pant and his men.
Ravi Shastri believes the seeds have been sown for a potential new winner to emerge this season in the Indian Premier League.
Catch today IPL match score for the upcmoing match here!
Here is Ravi Shastri's tweet:
A crackerjack of a contest between RCB and DC
Playing at the newly-built Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad, Rishabh Pant had no hesitations in bowling first after winning the toss. And with the DC bowlers executing their plans well, RCB had a deplorable start to their innings and lost both openers inside the first six overs.
RCB's man-in-form Glenn Maxwell also returned to the pavilion after scoring 25 runs, leaving the team stranded at 60/3. At this stage, it took an AB de Villiers special to bail the team out of trouble. The Protean breached the 5000-run mark in the IPL on his way to an unbeaten 75 off 42 balls. He helped RCB reach 171 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 172, the Delhi Capitals lost both Dhawan and Shaw early on in the innings. This led to their run rate dropping drastically for a few overs in the middle. As a result, they could only get 62 runs in the first 10 overs and needed another 111 in the final 10 to win the match.
But to their dismay, they could only get 109 runs and ended up losing their second match of the season. Rishabh Pant didn't get a move on until the last over of the innings, and many believe his uncharacteristically sluggish approach cost them the game.