KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell proved to be the heroes of a resurgent victory over Delhi Capitals on Friday after RCB found themselves precariously placed at the beginning of the run-chase. With five needed off the last ball, Bharat hit DC’s Avesh Khan for a maximum over long-on in one of the most amazing finishes to a recent IPL game.
The Bharat-Maxwell stand and that exhilarating finish allowed RCB to post their ninth win of the season – a morale-boosting one at that, being against the table-toppers – and take that much more confidence and momentum with them ahead of the knock-out game with KKR in Sharjah on Monday.
Bharat played the innings of his young IPL career as he first stitched a resurrection stand with the great AB de Villiers (26). The duo added only 49 runs for the third wicket, but that was the partnership of calm and substance that RCB needed from 6/2 in a chase of 165. After the South African fell, Bharat was joined by an in-form Maxwell, and they put on an unbeaten partnership of 111 runs to take their team home.
Maxwell once again gave RCB an edge with his intimidating presence at the crease. The aggressive right-hander never allowed DC bowlers to take the asking rate beyond RCB’s reach, hitting eight fours through his 33-ball 51. It was not the first time this year that Maxwell had helped RCB pull off a victory from a difficult situation.
But on this occasion, Bharat deservedly caught more of the limelight as he outscored Maxwell marginally in their great stand. The wicketkeeper-batter produced an outstanding knock on the night, scoring his 78 not out off 52 balls with three fours and four maximums.
Bharat showed different layers to his game, playing the anchor and aggressor both depending on his team’s needs and the situation’s demand. His stellar final-ball six will be the lasting memory of the game. The RCB No.3 also won the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his exploits.
Once Bharat and Maxwell got going, DC couldn’t quite stop them. One problem area for DC on the day was that their spinners, including even the in-form Axar Patel (1/39), failed to stall the game through the middle-overs.
Ravichandran Ashwin’s only over went for 11 runs, and the Capitals required young Ripal Patel’s gentle medium pace to finish his quota. Patel’s three overs went for only 22 runs.
Anrich Nortje bowled superbly again to end with figures of 2/24. But his South African teammate Kagiso Rabada (0/37) proved very expensive. As far as Avesh is concerned, the bowler had done a reasonable job in his three overs, but the pressure seems to have got to him in the last six balls of which he conceded 16 runs, including a full toss that Bharat could get underneath and swing it down the ground to end the proceedings.
With the bat as well, it was a day of an incomplete performance for DC. They started off well but finished with a less than ideal 164/5 in their full 20 overs. Openers Prithvi Shaw (48) and Shikhar Dhawan (43) batted well, but failures from skipper Rishabh Pant (10) and Shreyas Iyer (18) meant that the onus to do the bulk of the remaining work fell on Shimron Hetmyer, who hit a few lusty blows through his 22-ball 29.
At the death, where Hetmyer couldn’t quite hit the yorkers that RCB quicks Harshal Patel (1/34) and Mohammed Siraj (2/25) executed, something else also took place. In a contentious decision, the on-field umpire – and even the TV umpire – chose not to declare Siraj’s above waist-high full toss a no-ball.
Even though Hetmyer struck it for a four behind point, there was no extra run added to the DC total with the free-hit awarded as it should’ve been. That cost DC some important runs that may have forced Bharat and Maxwell to take extra risks sooner than they would’ve liked in the second half.
Overall, though, Siraj was the stand-out bowler for RCB on the night where their bowlers couldn’t claim to be at their best but still managed to keep the DC total within their team’s reach. George Garton (0/20) bowled economically, while Yuzvendra Chahal (1/34) and Dan Christian (1/19) chipped in with a wicket each.
Brief scores
Delhi Capitals 164/5 in 20 overs (Shaw 48, Dhawan 43; Siraj 2/25, Dan Christian 1/19) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 166/3 in 20 overs (Bharat 78*, Maxwell 51*; Nortje 2/24, Patel 1/39) by six wickets.
