Kagiso Rabada took his wickets tally to 25 for the season as he helped the Delhi Capitals clinch a qualifier spot with a 16-run win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore’s recent run of wins came to an end. In their hunt for a playoff spot, RCB’s best chance of qualification would be to win all their remaining games.
The Virat Kohli-led Challengers took some punishment from the Delhi Capitals batsmen, particularly from Shikhar Dhawan (50 off 37 balls) and Shreyas Iyer (52 off 37 balls) who both managed half-centuries. They put 187-5 on the board.
RCB started positively. Led by their in-form opener Parthiv Patel, they raced to 63-0 after 5.4 overs, but a crucial wicket from Rabada broke the Royals’ momentum.
M46: DC vs RCB – Rabada removes Parthiv Patel. https://t.co/17WYq7ZWmd
— SA Cricket magazine (@SACricketmag) April 28, 2019
Key wickets tumbled thereafter – Kohli (23), AB de Villiers (17), Shivam Dube (24) and Heinrich Klaasen (3) – as they were reduced to 111-5 with seven overs remaining.
Marcus Stoinis (32 off 24 balls) and Gurkeerat Singh (27 off 19 balls) kept their side in the game and took them to 152-5 by the 17th over, but Rabada absorbed the pressure to concede just six in his second-last over.
He bowled tidily in the final over to close out the game. He conceded just nine runs and removed Washington Sundar to finish with figures of 2-31.
This helped the Delhi Capitals seal the first qualifier spot.
Photo: Rahul Gulati /Sportzpics/BCCI
