Royal Challengers Bangalore ended the league stage of the Indian Premier League with an impressive seven wicket win over Delhi Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday night.

Delhi after being asked to bat posted 164 for five in their 20 overs and Bangalore chased down the target in their allotted overs to finish on 166 for three.

Earlier, unchanged playing XIs from both sides took the field. Delhi posted 164 for five. Their openers Prithvi Shaw (48) and Shikhar Dhawan (43) added 88 for the opening wicket. Thereafter there were useful contributions from the middle-order. Towards the end, Shimron Hetmyer (29) used the long handle well to help his side finish on a high.

For Bangalore the best bowler was Mohammed Siraj (2-25).

In their response, Bangalore was reduced to six for two after they lost both their openers captain Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal. But wicket-keeper batsman Srikar Bharat took charge. He first added 49 for the third wicket with AB de Villiers. Later, Bharat aligned with Glenn Maxwell (51 n.o.: 33b, 8x4) in an unbroken 111 run stand for the fourth wicket. Bharat himself finished unbeaten on 78 off 52 deliveries with three boundaries and four sixes. For Delhi the good news ahead of the first playoff on Sunday was the form of Anrich Nortje (2-24).

Match Summary

Delhi Capitals: 164-5 (20)
Fall of wickets: 1-88 (Shikhar Dhawan-10.1 ov), 2-101 (Prithvi Shaw-11.2 ov), 3-108 (Rishabh Pant-12.4 ov), 4-143 (Shreyas Iyer-17.4 ov), 5-164 (Shimron Hetmyer-19.6 ov)

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 166-3 (20)
Fall of wickets: 1-3 (Devdutt Padikkal-0.5 ov), 2-6 (Virat Kohli-2.1 ov), 3-55 (AB de Villiers-9.3 ov)

Result: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by seven wickets 

Scorecard

Playing XI
Delhi Capitals: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (captain & wicket-keeper), Ripal Patel, Shimron Hetmyer, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kagiso Rabada, Avesh Khan, Anrich Nortje

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (captain), Devdutt Padikkal, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Dan Christian, Shahbaz Ahmed, George Garton, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Match details
Toss: Royal Challengers Bangalore, elected to field
Venue: Dubai International Stadium, Dubai
Start time: 1800 hrs UAE time
Match officials: KN Ananthapadmanabhan, Nitin Menon (On-field Umpires); Krishnamachari Srinivasan (TV Umpire); Navdeep Singh (Reserve Umpire); Prakash Bhatt (Match-referee)

©Cricket World 2021