So, that is it from me, Karthik Raj and my co-commentators, Akshay Bhide and Arjun Bhalla for this game. Stay tuned to OneCricket's coverage of the remaining five matches in this IPL season.
Anrich Norje (Player of the Match): I said it time and time again, it's just doing the basics right and wasn't about something special from one guy. Coming into this game, small things started feeling better and I think those small things, once you get that right, you get your rhythm. We were thinking to make them hit to the bigger boundary and stick to our plans against each batsmen. There was little bit dew at the end of our innings and we tried not to be predictable. Yorker would have been the obvious option and we wanted to change it and see how it goes and wanted to hit the hard length. Having a bit of extra pace always helps. All ready for the playoffs (smiles).
Shreyas Iyer : Very chuffed with the performance. We knew it was a do-or-die and an opportunity for us to get to the second spot. We were really motivated. The teams winning in the latter half completely changed the scenario of the table and it was really commendable. Really happy with how the tournament has gone so far. The bowlers were really up with their plans and they knew what they had to execute. Nortje was really good and it worked out pretty well. Kudos to the way the bowlers bowled. We are one of the best teams in the tournament and we need to stick to the basics and if we try and execute our plans, the results will come.
Ajinkya Rahane: Ricky told me that I am going to bat at number three. It’s a good position to bat at. Our bowlers did really well for us. I enjoyed the partnership with Shikhar. The communication between us was all about intent. We weren’t thinking about any target. It was all about playing proper cricketing shots. I wanted to finish the game. We all know how funny the sport is. We’ve seen how things have happened in this IPL. Feels great to win in the end.
Virat Kohli: It's a mixed bag. you come to games to try and get a result your way. Through probably the 11th over, the 17.3 mark was informed by the management. Even if the game was drifting away, we controlled the middle overs well enough. I think we've played good enough cricket in this tournament to qualify. We have two games to the final now. We can be more brave in the back end, probably be better in the powerplay (with the ball) which has been our strength. You take what you can with these games.
Comments from the players!!
With Delhi slowing down in the back-end of the chase, RCB too qualified as the batting side didn't finish the chase within 17.3 overs. This ensured that RCB's net run-rate remained good enough to ensure a 3rd-place finish in the league stages. The left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers for RCB while Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal were also miserly
What a professional run-chase from Delhi. After getting off to a quick start, Delhi lost Prithvi Shaw in the second over to a jaffa from Mohammad Siraj. Thereafter, the two experienced campaigners in Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane stitched a superb 88-run partnership to put Delhi in the driver's seat to win this game. The RCB bowlers also helped with a lot of poor deliveries. The seamers were especially disappointing as both Dhawan and Rahane got a flurry of boundaries to maintain a very promising run-rate. Even though Dhawan fell in the 11th over, Ajinkya Rahane continued for a few more overs and reached his maiden fifty of the season. With the winning line just a bit away, both Shreyas Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane fell to Shahbaz Ahmed and Washington Sundar respectively. However, the duo of Rishabh Pant and Marcus Stoinis sealed the chase with an over to spare
OVER 19.0
Delhi Capitals
154/4
Rishabh Pant
8(7)
Marcus Stoinis
10(5)
Mohammed Siraj
1-29(3.0)
Perfect display of death bowling by Nortje in the last over. Just 6 runs from the over. Anrich sticking to his strengths by hitting the back of a length. He started the over with by making it difficult for AB to hit the ball. AB got runout on the second ball, Udana took a boundary on the next ball of midfield by the bowler took his revenge by taking Udana's wicket. Then, Nortje finished the over with just two singles as RCB concluded the innings at 152/7,