Delhi Capitals beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7 wickets in match number 50 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday. While Bangalore had won the toss and opted to bat first, they managed to post 181/4 with the help of a maiden half-century from Mahipal Lomror (54* off 29) and Virat Kohli (55 off 46). However, in response, Delhi produced their best top-order batting of the season and finished off the game with 20 balls to spare.
Wicketkeeper-batter Phil Salt (87 off 45), who came out to open the batting for Delhi took the attack to the opposition from the word go as Delhi made a mockey of the target set by Bangalore, dominating the entire second half. In the powerplay itself, Delhi scored 70/1. Other than Salt's attacking approach, David Warner scored 22 off 14 while Mitchell Marsh chipped in with a 17-ball 26 before Rilee Rossouw further accelerated the innings and made sure Delhi win with a bang to given an impetus to their net run rate.
Salt's knock was studded with 8 fours and 6 sixes in what a truly remarkable attacking innings which set the tone from the outset. This was Bangalore's worst powerplay bowling and despite Delhi losing wickets, they kept going at the same rate which helped them win the match quite comfortably in the end.
Before his contribution with the bat, Marsh had returned with figures of 2 for 21. Mukesh Kumar (1/30) and Khaleel Ahmed (1/45) were the other wicket takers for Delhi. Bangalore had set a good base for themselves but slowed down a tad bit in the middle which is what they would be looking to work on. Kohli, for instance, eventually had a strike rate of less than 120 and it was really Lomror's innings that took them past 180 otherwise it could have been a lesser total in the first innings.
This is Delhi's fourth win in last five matches and they now move to the ninth place with eight points from ten matches. RCB stay at the fifth place with ten points from ten matches.