New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Looking back at the Delhi Capitals-Royal Challengers Bengaluru clash at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, one can safely say that roles from their previous meeting in Bengaluru had reversed here. In that game, RCB were kept on a tight leash by spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam to make 163 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In reply, despite losing three wickets in power-play, KL Rahul smashed 93 not out off 53 balls and had a crucial 111-run stand with Tristan Stubbs, who hit 38 not out off 23 balls, as the duo ensured DC had an astonishing win. At the end of that game, Rahul had pulled off an animated ‘this is my ground’ celebration, something which was mentioned hugely by approximately 35,000 people thronging the stadium in New Delhi on Sunday evening to see DC-RCB clash.
At the mid-way mark, when tight bowling from Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma, along with consistent contributions from the pacers helped RCB keep DC to 162/8, the murmurs of a role reversal and change in result gathered steam. When RCB were reduced to 26/3 in the chase, fans felt this could be Virat Kohli’s night to pull off a match-winning knock and do a ‘this is my ground’ celebration in front of Rahul and DC.
But to everyone’s surprise, it was Pandya, a three-time IPL winner, who stepped up to make a superb 73 runs off 47 balls – blending immense composure with calculated aggression. He was the chief aggressor in a 119-run partnership with Kohli, who scored 51 runs from 47 balls and kept strike rotation going, as RCB completed the chase in 19th over to go on top of points table, as well as maintain their perfect record in away games and run chases.
As fans made their way out of the stadium with happiness of seeing an RCB win and a Kohli fifty, many just couldn’t stop themselves from heaping rich praise on Pandya and his match-winning all-round contributions on a pitch which resembled the surfaces New Delhi had before dishing out absolute belters in IPL 2024.
Having been on 17 off 21 balls at the half-way stage of the chase, it did look like the rusty Pandya would fall, as seen from him ducking a bumper from Mitchell Starc and being later beaten on the outside edge, apart from being slightly hit on the side of his helmet by Dushmantha Chameera.
With the equation reading 99 needed off last ten overs, the pressure was on RCB, who were at 64/3. But Pandya, promoted to number five, got his shift of gears timing right by hitting 56 runs off his last 26 balls. It all started after his attempted scoop off Mukesh didn’t yield a run. With Mukesh not being at his sharpest best, Pandya capitalised on it by pulling and lofting for consecutive sixes.
He then launched Kuldeep Yadav for another six over cover, before sweeping Axar Patel for four to bring up an IPL fifty after 3269 days. The last time he hit a fifty in the tournament, it was in Visakhapatnam in 2016, when the opposition used to be called Delhi Daredevils. Luck was on Pandya’s side too when Abishek Porel made a mess of a straightforward catch, shortly after he got his fifty in 38 balls.
To rub salt on that wound, Pandya went on to upstage Mukesh’s attempts to bluff him by hitting back-to-back boundaries on both sides of the wicket, as RCB eventually got home with nine balls to spare. RCB’s think-tank mighty chuffed over how the all-rounder’s promotion worked like magic – they never lost wickets in middle overs, which more than made up for an abysmal power-play.
“Krunal did a great job going in just to break a bit of that momentum for us and build a partnership with Virat, which he did brilliantly. Then it was good to see him go through the gears as well and get us closer to the score.”
“Obviously, we had a lot of firepower left in the pavilion. So, Tim David going in and a few other people to come still. So, once we got past the midway point, we were confident that we were back in the game,” explained Mo Bobat, RCB’s director of cricket, in the post-match press conference.
Before stepping up with the bat for RCB, Krunal was one of the main catalysts in RCB applying spin choke on DC through 1-28. Coming from wide of the crease and targeting stumps constantly, TV graphics showed that whenever Faf du Plessis tried creating room outside leg-stump to break free, Pandya followed him like a hawk with his lengths.
Eventually, he had him caught at long-on and if that wasn’t enough, Pandya also brought out the surprise bouncer to Axar. The notion about Pandya has always been about him being a good defensive bowler in the shortest format. But in IPL 2025, Pandya the bowler has stood up to be the attacking bowler, seen from his spell in New Delhi taking his wickets tally to 13 – his best-ever haul in an IPL.
“Krunal’s got a reputation for a reason. He’s been a fantastic spin bowler in the IPL for a long time. He’s typically been someone that’s been quite miserly. He hasn’t given many runs away with his economy rate. But actually, it’s been good seeing him bowl even more bravely this year and taking more wickets,” added Bobat.
With Pandya the batter also excelling, the night of role reversals on April 27 at Kotla became his stage to shine brightly and solidify RCB’s credentials for a potential first-ever championship win. “I spoke to him at the half-time interval and he was passionately talking about how some of our fielding positions could have been better. He’s got so much to offer tactically. Then he went out and did the business with the bat as well.”
“A win like this, where we stuttered a little bit with the bat, but we got there, was a good example of the personality and togetherness of our team. We’re in a good place right now. We’ve played pretty good cricket all season, but we’ve got to a point now where the character shines through, and you want that at the business end of the competition.”
“Krunal’s a good example of that. He has huge experience, and bowled brilliantly. In the recruitment, we wanted to add players of that ilk and experience: guys who can stand up under pressure, and it was great to see Krunal do that, particularly with Virat guiding us through,” concluded Bobat.
–IANS
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