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Following his side's win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), Delhi Capitals (DC) stand-in skipper KL Rahul said that the plan was always to continue playing good cricketing shots and there were no nerves towards the end with Tristan Stubbs and David Miller out there in the middle during the death overs.
Down at 18/3 in powerplay courtesy a sensational bowling display from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, fifties from KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs put DC on track to win, but RCB made a solid comeback in the death overs, taking the equation to 15 in the final over. Miller finished off in style, with two sixes and a four, taking DC to their third win of the season with a ball to spare. Speaking during the post-match presentation, KL, who came as a stand-in for Axar Patel, down due to cramps, said that the wicket was doing its tricks early on. "I could see Virat and Phil Salt not happy with the way the ball was coming on. Us losing three wickets in the first six overs did not make it easy for us. So yeah, it was, I think all in all a really good cricket game. (Plan after losing three quick wickets) The conversation was to continue to play good cricket shots and see how we can find boundaries and how we can still put the pressure on the bowlers. We did not want to go into our shell, and then the run rate keeps climbing up, it gets harder and harder towards the end." Rahul said that there was a hint of reverse swing and the opposition had fine death bowlers, so the team did not want to take the game deep. "We just wanted to stay in the moment, take it one over at a time and try to put pressure on the bowlers.(Nervous towards the end?) No, there was faith in Stubbs and Miller. They do this on a daily basis for South Africa and franchise cricket. So, we also knew that the last two overs were going to be a gamble for RCB as well. And we knew that probably Romario Shepherd would bowl or maybe Suyash Sharma would bowl, which gives our batters a good chance to hit two sixes in the last two overs. So yeah, ideally we would not have wanted it to go till the 20th over, but we will take the win," he added. With this win, DC has climbed to the fourth spot with three wins and two losses, giving them six points. RCB is in second place, with four wins and two losses, giving them eight points. When RCB was put to bat first, they could put up just 175/8 in 20 overs, with Phil Salt (63 in 38 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) being the only massive contributor as wickets fell regularly. Lungi Ngidi, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel took two wickets. During the run-chase, DC slipped to 18/3 courtesy a fine spell from Bhuvneshwar, but fifties from KL, Stubbs (60* in 47 balls, with four boundaries) and finishing from Miller (22* in 10 balls, with a four and two sixes) guided DC to a brilliant win. (ANI)
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