DC vs RCB, IPL 2023: Phil Salt leads Delhi Capitals to a 7 wicket win

50th Match, IPL: Delhi Capitals 187 for 3 for D (Phil Salt 87) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 181 for 4 (Kohli 55, Lomror 54*, Marsh 2-21) by seven wickets 

Even though the Delhi Capitals’ batting might didn’t show up until quite late in the tournament, they still gave their home crowd a stunning display of boundary hitting, the highlight of which was Phil Salt’s 87 off 45 balls to end RCB’s chase of 182 with 20 balls left.

Salt’s assault, which included a lot of horizontal-bat shots, saw him hit five of his six sixes over the leg-side boundary after he had only scored over 10 in his previous five T20 innings and had three ducks. Salt kept attacking to bring the asking rate below six in almost no time, launching the Capitals’ chase with their first half-century of the season. They scored 70 runs in the powerplay and 115 runs at the halfway point thanks to Salt’s fifty off 28 balls, but an over by Harshal Patel reduced the chase to 32 runs off 42 balls.

Salt’s eight fours and six sixes helped the Capitals defeat RCB for the first time in three years, despite his final score of 87. The Capitals moved up from last place in the table with their fourth victory in their last five games.

DC’s best powerplay

The chase by the Capitals was unlike any other bat display they have put on this season. David Warner started with two fours off the initial three balls from Mohammed Siraj, prior to clearing Wanindu Hasaranga’s most memorable ball for six in the fourth over. In the middle between, Salt took on Josh Hazlewood for two fours preceding a lively fifth over from Siraj.

Salt slapped the second ball over cover and into the stands before flicking one bounce into the square-leg boundary after top-edging the first ball for six. Following a heated exchange between the batter and the bowler and some animated finger-pointing from Siraj toward both Warner and Salt, Siraj responded with a bouncer that was called wide.

Warner skied a catch off Hazlewood for 22 off 14 in the last over of the powerplay yet Mitchell Swamp finished the over with a major six over midwicket and an edged four to control Capitals to 70 after six overs. If Dinesh Karthik had not saved a difficult opportunity from Salt in the fourth over, an inside edge off Hasaranga, they might not have had as much success.

Phil Salt’s boundary bonanza

Salt hit everything that got in his way while he was on 35 off 17: Short ones were disdainfully pulled, and a few edges also raced to the boundary as wide balls vanished over cover.

Although Marsh scored off a full toss, RCB’s bowlers continued to be attacked. Salt hit a six over the leg side in Harshal’s 13th over, Rilee Rossouw hit two more down the ground, and Suyash Prabhudessai scored 24 runs with a midfield on the long-off boundary.

Salt hit two more boundaries before losing to Karn Sharma, and Rossouw won the game with his third six in the 17th over.

Kohli and Du Plessis solid but not spectacular

After RCB decided to bat on what was viewed as a sluggish pitch at the Arun Jaitley Arena, Virat Kohli began by playing nine spot balls in the initial three overs, yet in addition tracked down the limit in every one of them.

After hitting Mukesh Kumar for three fours in the fifth over, Faf du Plessis gave RCB a boost by hitting Khaleel Ahmed for a pair of sixes and a four to make it 51 from the powerplay.

Marsh goes bang, bang

When Marsh caught du Plessis slapping a short and wide slower ball to deep point, Kohli and du Plessis continued to bat into the eleventh over of the innings. After that, he got Glenn Maxwell to catch the first ball, putting RCB at 82 for 2. At the other end, Kohli was on 36 off 31, and the run rate dropped slightly.