Images from the IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, in Delhi, on Sunday.
Krunal Pandya recorded his first fifty in IPL since 2016, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru pull off a six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Sunday.
Krunal (73 not out of 47 balls), paced his innings perfectly while batting alongside chase master Virat Kohli (51 off 47).
The duo shared a 119-run stand off 84 balls as RCB chased down 163 in 18.3 overs to win their sixth match away from home.
Adjudged the Player of the Match for his all-round show, Krunal, who took one wicket along with his 73 not out, said he was happy to perform at his assigned role in the team.
"It is always good to see the results. Sometimes when you have put the hard work behind the scenes and feels good when it comes off. It is quite satisfying," he said.
RCB bowlers put a squeeze on Delhi Capitals in the middle overs through Josh Hazlewood and the spinners to limit the home team to 162/6.
For RCB, it was their seventh win in 10 games as they jumped to the top of the standings, while DC suffered only their third loss in nine matches. Both teams are on course to make the play-offs.
RCB were in a spot of bother following early wickets as they found themselves reeling on 26/3 after four overs, before Krunal and Kohli bailed them out.
Krunal has made valuable contributions with both bat and ball for new his team RCB this season.
The experienced Kohli played the perfect anchor as Krunal came up with timely hits on a sluggish surface to deliver a fine win for his team. His straight hit through the line off Mukesh Kumar and an aerial drive over cover off the wily Kuldeep Yadav stood out among his four sixes.
Kohli's consistency has been remarkable this season and the knock against DC was his sixth 50-plus score in 10 innings. The highlight of his solid effort was the straight drive off Mitchell Starc.
The night, however, belonged to Krunal who collected only his second 50-plus score in 116 IPL innings.
Earlier, K L Rahul (41 off 39 balls) was the top-scorer for DC but it was Tristian Stubbs (34 off 18 balls) who helped the hosts post a fighting total.
Faf du Plessis (22 off 26 balls) returned from injury to join Abhishek Porel (28 off 11) at the top of the order but it was the latter who ensured DC reached 52/2 in the Powerplay.
The southpaw, who has been in fine form this season, came up with a couple of sizzling sixes in his entertaining cameo. Both came off Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- one was a left-handed hit over mid-wicket and the second was a pick-up shot over fine leg.
As veteran du Plessis struggled to get going at the other end, Porel found the ropes with relative ease.
Lead RCB pacer Hazlewood, who has been relentless with his hard lengths, took three balls to get the breakthrough as he cramped Porel to have him caught behind down the leg side.
Karun Nair, who began with a short arm pull off Hazlewood for a boundary, attempted a rash shot against Yash Dayal and was caught at midwicket.
The spinners got into operation after the Powerplay and overs 7-10 was the phase when RCB were able to stem the flow of runs, conceding just 20 runs off the four overs from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, who got rid of du Plessis in that period.
It was only towards the end of the innings that DC managed to get some momentum, all thanks to the blitzkrieg from Stubbs.
The 18th and 19th over from Hazlewood and Dayal yielded 17 and 19 runs, enabling DC to cross the 160-run mark.
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