Delhi Capitals

The defeat of Delhi Capitals paved the way for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) into the playoffs along with Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals, and Lucknow Super Giants. Royal Challengers Bangalore star cricketers Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell, Faf Du Plessis and staff members were seen celebrating wildly in a video shared by the franchise on social media after their team qualified for the IPL 2022 playoffs.

The young captain said his team could have done better planning and better execution. "I think it's not about the pressure but at the same time we could have done better execution, better planning. That's the only thing and we have been missing that a lot throughout the tournament. So we have to learn from our mistakes next season and come back as a strong team again next year," said Pant after the match.

Delhi Capitals were asked to bat first by Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma on a pitch that offered bounce to the seamers and turn to spinners, here on Saturday. They got off to a poor stand (31/3), recovered in the middle overs but slumped towards the end again as they ended with a below-par score of 159/7 in 20 overs thanks mainly to Rovman Powell (43) and Rishabh Pant (39), who rescued the team with a 75-run partnership for the fifth wicket.

"We've done well and will like to know the score-chasing. We'll look to restrict them and later bat freely. We were inconsistent and failed to perform collectively. The focus has been on that. We've tried in the last few games with an eye on the future. But winning is important as that gives confidence. We want to finish on a high," Rohit said at the toss.

"Just getting rid of all the excitement and making sure that we are 100% focused. It's a little bit out of our hands going forward. If we can control what we can control and put in a really good show and hopefully keep ourselves alive in the competition. That's all we can do right now," said Maxwell in a pre-match chat with broadcasters Star Sports.

Marsh, who missed several games after testing positive for Covid-19 and spending a few days in hospital as well, scored a patient 48-ball 63 and his partnerships with Sarfaraz Khan and Lalit Yadav took Delhi Capitals to a fighting 159/7 on a spinning track. It helped the Rishabh Pant-led side climb to fourth place in the points table and brighten their chances of a playoff berth with one league match still to go for them.

In the earlier clash between these two teams at Brabourne Stadium, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Lalit Yadav combined to leave Punjab in a spin, picking 6/45 overall in 10 overs at a run rate of 4.50 to be out for a paltry score of 115, which unsurprisingly was chased down by Delhi in 10.3 overs.

David Warner took a strike at the last moment on seeing Livingstone take the ball. But the move backfired spectacularly as Warner slashed hard at a length ball outside the off-stump, which bounced and held a little, taking a thick edge to backward point.

Delhi Capitals are currently fifth on the IPL table with 12 points from 12 games, the same as Punjab Kings, but the Delhi franchise has a better net run rate (NRR).

In the ninth over of Delhi's successful chase of 161, Warner had a huge slice of luck when on last ball of the over, a leg break from Chahal went past his bat and brushed the leg stump. It was sufficient to light the stumps but not enough to dislodge one of the bails, which is a requirement for a clean bowled dismissal.