New Delhi, May 7 Delhi Capitals put on a show to register a clinical seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL 2023 match at the Arun Jaitley Stadium here and former India pacer RP Singh feels that the reason behind the home team's win was their great intent.
RCB won the toss and decided to bat first, scoring a total of 181 runs boosted by Virat Kohli's 55 runs (46b, 5x4) and Mahipal Lomror's quickfire 54 runs (29b, 6x4, 3x6). Unfortunately, that total was not enough as the Capitals chased it with ease on Saturday night.
Phillip Salt's mega 87-run knock (45b, 8x4, 6x6) helped them not only chase the target down but do it with 20 balls to spare.
Delhi keeps their dreams of making the playoffs alive with this win, sitting with 8 points in 9th place. They have a chance at making it into the playoffs, so JioCinema IPL expert RP Singh praised their intent and effort for this must-win game,
"The intent with which Delhi approached was very important. They had to win tonight's match to keep themselves in the race, had they lost today, all the ifs and buts would have ended. Delhi won tonight because their intent was great. The top-order fired at the right time," said Singh.
On the other hand, former India pacer Zaheer Khan praised Salt's tremendous contribution for Delhi Capitals.
"Whenever someone takes his (Salt) name, it's to talk about him as a prolific batsman. The question was whether he will get an opportunity, Prithvi Shaw's form was low, Delhi had other issues, and the batting also had issues. They had to do something about it. The change has come. They could've gone with Mitchell Marsh as their opener, but they picked Phil Salt. He played his first matches in the middle order but came up tonight," said Zaheer.
"I think they are definitely settled, something they'll have to do. When Anrich Nortje comes back, we'll have to see which player is benched. We'll have to see what Delhi does going forward. With the way they've looked in recent matches, things are trending up for Delhi," he added.
Bangalore lost yet another game after posting a competitive target and Brett Lee reacted to side dropping another winnable game while praising Salt's exploits on the night,
"A little bit of an issue with RCB. A couple of bad losses, they should've probably won again tonight. They had enough runs on the board but just couldn't get it done with the bowling," said Lee.
"His (Phillip Salt) name always comes up as a player you have to have on your side, and he proved again exactly the reason why. 87 off 45 deliveries, took on the quicks too. I liked how he took on Mohammed Siraj, he wasn't backing down to him. The great thing with Phil Salt is that he is aggressive but gets himself into a position where he can allow himself to be aggressive, which is the best place to bat," he added.
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