David Miller takes Delhi home with last-over exploits

David Miller sort of redeemed himself with two last-over sixes after KL Rahul made a 57 rooted in classicism and Tristan Stubbs produced an equally chic 60 as Delhi Capitals edged Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets in their IPL match here on Saturday.

Considering the slow nature of this particular Chinnaswamy strip and the quality in RCB's bowling ranks, the chase of 176 was never going to be straightforward.

Miller (22 not out 10b) could not take Delhi home in the outing against the Gujarat Titans when they needed two off 2 balls, inviting sharp criticism.

However, he did not make any mistake today, hammered Romario Shepherd for two huge sixes as DC, who needed 15 runs off the last over, scampered home and RCB crashed to their second defeat of the season.

DC found saviours at various times in Rahul (57, 34b), Stubbs (60 not out, 47b) and Axar Patel (24 retired hurt) to make 179 for four, ending a two-match losing streak.

Rahul played an innings of rare quality, a bit un-T20 if you may, to rescue DC from a disastrous start and set the chase in order. He took a particular liking for Josh Hazlewood, carving him for a total of two sixes and three fours.

In fact, both his sixes were of amazing quality — the first one an inside-out lofted shot over covers and the second a flick, which he executed through a last-minute snap of wrist.

Rahul fetched his fifty in 30 balls but fell to Krunal Pandya, hitting the spinner into the hands of a diving Virat Kohli at long-on.

By then, Rahul and Stubbs added 69 runs for the fourth wicket as DC walked back from a precarious 18 for three in 2.5 overs. Stubbs and Axar added 47 for the fifth wicket before the latter had to hobble off the field with a niggle.  At that time, DC were 134 for four in 15.5 overs, needing to score 45 off 25 balls. But Stubbs found an able ally in Miller as they knocked off those runs with a ball to spare.

It would have been hugely satisfying for them as Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/26) had plucked the wickets of Pathum Nissanka, Karun Nair and Sameer Rizvi in his opening burst, showing the virtues of old school swing bowling.

Earlier, despite Phil Salt producing a well-crafted 63, Capitals muffled the big guns in RCB’s batting unit to restrict the defending champions to a sub-par 175 for eight.

After being asked to bat first, RCB’s start was anything but smooth as the Capitals bowlers stuck to a good line in the first four overs.

Virat Kohli (19), who added 52 runs for the first wicket with Salt whose fifty came off 38 balls, played a couple of delectable shots off pacer Mukesh Kumar and his partner from England too unfurled a cracking four off Auqib Nabi.

But even then the run-rate remained a tad above eight in that phase. However, Axar’s decision to give a third over to Nabi shifted the momentum in favour of RCB.

Salt feasted on Nabi’s medium pace offerings, carting him for two fours and a six in the fifth over that yielded 18 runs.

It helped RCB finish the Power Play at a rather happy note of 59 for 1, despite losing Kohli to Lungi Ngidi.

Salt too seemed to have shed his indifferent form, bringing up his fifty in 30 balls. Salt and Devdutt Padikkal milked 47 runs for the second wicket before the latter skied a simple catch to David Miller at deep off Axar (2/18). It gave DC a chance to gain some foothold in the match and they used it quite brilliantly.

After ousting Devdutt, the visitors managed to get rid of Salt, who hoiked Kuldeep Yadav (2/32) to Stubbs in the deep, as RCB were 105 for three.

Skipper Rajat Patidar and Tim David looked set for a familiar destruction job, hammering a couple of big blows.

But Patidar chased a wide delivery from Mukesh to get caught behind by Rahul, and David could not negotiate Axar’s spin and his heave ended in the hands of T Natarajan at the edge of the circle.

The much-improved performance by Axar and Kuldeep meant that RCB could not attain the familiar middle-over momentum.

They made 99 for 2 in the first 10 overs for a reasonable platform, but they could muster only 76 runs in a powerless back 10 period as the hosts ended up with their season’s first total under 200 in a completed innings.