AB de Villiers storm subdued Ahmedabad sandstorm and late Delhi Capitals charge to help Royal Challengers Bangalore win Motera thriller by one run. Rishabh Pant (58) and Shimron Hetmyer (53) hit fifties but Mohammed Siraj held his nerves to give RCB fifth win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 and go top of the table. Earlier, de Villiers played another gem of an innings even as a star-studded RCB batting line-up struggled against a disciplined DC bowling attack. Put into bat by Delhi caption Rishabh Pant, RCB lost both the openers - Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkall off successive deliveries across two overs early in the match as Avesh Khan and Ishant Sharma celebrated their new new-ball pairing. Then, Rajat Patidar and de Villiers played crucial knocks of 31 off22 and 75 not out off 42 to help RCB post a respectable total. Glenn Maxwell made a fluent 25 off 22, but once again became a victim of Amit Mishra - for the fifth time in the IPL. Pant used six bowlers and all but one, Marcus Stoinis, took at least a wicket each. Giving a finishing touch to the innings, ABD clobbered Stoinis for three sixes in the 23-run last over. And the target for Delhi is 172 runs. Then, sandstorm forced a delay in the start of Delhi's chase. It gave people time to talk about Sachin Tendulkar's Sharjah, April 1998 epic! Catch highlights and cricket scores of the Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match in Ahmedabad.
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11: 25 PM IST: Result! Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Delhi Capitals by one run.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 171/5 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 75 not out, Rajat Patidar 31).
Delhi Capitals: 170/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 58 not out, Shimron Hetmyer 53 not out; Harshal Patel 2/37).
7:12 PM IST: Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 171/5 after losing the toss.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 171/5 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 75 not out, Rajat Patidar 31).
7:07 PM IST: One change for Delhi with Ishant Sharma coming in for Ravichandran Ashwin. A couple of changes for Bangalore with Navdeep Saini and Dan Christian making way for Rajat Patidar and Daniel Sams. Here are the playing XIs:
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Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Steven Smith, Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Avesh Khan
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers (wk), Washington Sundar, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mohammed Siraj.
7:03 PM IST: Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant wins the toss, and opts to bowl first against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
