IPL 2023: Delhi’s horror season continues as Virat Kohli stars in RCB victory

This season, Warner is in the hot seat as captain of Delhi Capitals. But despite his three half-centuries, the Australian — named skipper after Rishabh Pant was unavailable — has struggled to take the bowlers apart.

Back to winning ways 🙌@RCBTweets register a 23-run win at home and clinch their second win of the season 👏👏

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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2023

No respite for DC, Warner

A strike rate of less than 120 is indicative of Warner’s recent struggles and there has been no respite for the 2016 IPL-winning skipper. His days of glory with Sunrisers Hyderabad are long gone. On Saturday, Capitals suffered their fifth loss on the trot falling 23 runs behind Royal Challengers Bangalore’s score of 174 at the small M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Warner, opening the innings, showed glimpses of his famed hand-eye coordination. There was a flick and a pull off the quick bowlers and a lovely punch through extra cover against the very effective Mohammed Siraj. But debutant fast bowler Vijaykumar Vyshak got him with a slower ball. Warner didn’t judge the change of pace and the ball hit the toe end of the bat. Virat Kohli at mid-wicket took the catch that more or less sealed the game. Before Warner departed, the Delhi innings had unravelled with three down for just two runs on the board.

The most eye-catching dismissal was the run-out of Prithvi Shaw, another Delhi batsman whose season is a mess. Shaw, designated the Impact Player, was run out by the agile Anju Rawat, his RCB counterpart. In one flowing motion, Rawat dived to stop Shaw’s push to the cover region and got on his feet quickly to execute a direct hit.

Kohli tries to make a point

This IPL has been a mixed bag for Kohli. While opening for RCB, he has not been lacking in intent but there have been phases in his innings when he gets a little bogged down. This is especially true against spinners.

In the previous game against Lucknow Super Giants, Kohli finished with 61 off 44 with a strike rate of 138. But from 42 off 25 balls, he consumed another 10 balls to reach his fifty. Fastish spinners of LSG, leg-break exponent Ravi Bishnoi and left-arm orthodox bowler Krunal Pandya had kept Kohli in check. After going well, his innings stuttered before he was caught in the deep trying to find a six.

Back to Back Half-Centuries for @imVkohli 💪

He is supported by @mahipallomror36 at the crease 🙌@RCBTweets 89/1 at the halfway mark!

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On Saturday, Kohli went at a strike rate of 147 before being caught off a full toss in the deep when he tried to hit off-spinner Lalit Yadav out of the park. This time there was no stutter as he approached his fifty. He moved from 38 off 29 to 50 off 32, a four and a six off Mustafizur Rahman powering him to the mini-milestone. On reaching his fifty, Kohli thumped the RCB crest on his jersey as if making a point after some criticism around his strike rate. Kohli’s best innings this season was his unbeaten 82 off just 49 balls when chasing a target of 172 against Mumbai Indians. If he can be a little more aggressive against the spinners — he hardly plays the sweep and the reverse sweep, and rarely steps down the track to them — he will be able to keep the fours and sixes coming without suddenly shifting to first gear from overdrive when the fast bowlers are taken out of the attack.

His partner at the other end, Faf du Plessis also takes time to get going, which only adds to the early pressure on Kohli. RCB were 47 for 1 in the Powerplay, not too bad but not a score that would worry the opposition.

Kuldeep’s double strike

Once du Plessis and Kohli had exited, the responsibility of powering the innings fell on Glenn Maxwell. If given width, Maxwell can really hurt bowlers. On Saturday, he started moving around the crease and getting under the ball to find his hitting arc. Maxwell launched offspinner Yadav for two straight sixes to get his innings going. A Maxwell special looked to be around the corner — 24 off 13 with three sixes in his kitty. But Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav struck vital blows. First, he got rid of Maxwell. The ball which spun away was caught by David Warner just outside the circle on the offside after Maxwell miscued. On the very next ball, Dinesh Karthik failed to get the elevation and his flat-batted attempt to clear deep midwicket was caught by Yadav.

ICYMI!

When @imkuldeep18 got Maxwell and Karthik 🔙 to 🔙

150 up for #RCB, what first-innings total will they get?

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On the last ball of the previous over, Harshal Patel had got out to left-arm spinner Axar Patel — a faint spike on DRS doing him in. Three wickets in three balls and then 16 balls without a boundary had taken the wind out of the sails of the RCB innings. Shahbaz Ahmed gave the innings a push with 20 off 12 but Impact Player Rawat made just 15 off 22.

RCB seemed to have a below-par score at the innings break but Delhi, in the midst of a horror season, botched up the chase. Shaw, Mitchell Marsh and Yash Dhull were back in the dugout with just two on board and there was no Warner of old to put the RCB bowlers to the sword.