Miller redeems himself as he and Stubbs steer Capitals to six-wicket win over Bengaluru

Delhi Capitals seem to have made it a habit of playing tense matches which go to the wire. On Saturday afternoon against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Capitals needed 15 off the final over with South Africans David Miller and Tristan Stubbs at the crease.

Miller had failed to take Capitals across the line a couple of games ago but on Saturday, the left-handed South African redeemed himself with a blistering knock. He struck two sixes and a four off the third, fourth and fifth balls to help Capitals pull off a six-wicket win with a ball to spare.

Feels really good. After that game the other night, was a disappointing game, but to get it done today feels good. It’s always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game, said David Miller. Pics: BCCI

“Feels really good. After that game the other night, was a disappointing game, but to get it done today feels good. It’s always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game. Mentally just trying to stay in the moment and do what I can. They bowled six yorkers to me and I couldn’t really get going but chuffed it came off in the last six overs. We (Stubbs) wanted to try and finish it in the second-to-last over always, but with as many runs needed, we knew we needed 1-2 sixes. So, we just tried to limit the dot balls and take the boundary balls. There were lot of breaks in the game so our minds were a bit all over the place. When I walked out, Stubbo said to me to keep the intensity really hard and that helped. Always good finishing off games with Stubbo and he just said ‘thank you so much, you saved me there’. For him being there was massive for us,” said Miller, who was 22 not out of 10 balls with a four and two sixes.

https://x.com/IPL/status/2045505115671699657?s=20

Capitals all at sea against Bhuvneshwar

Needing 176 for victory, Delhi Capitals were all at sea against the seam bowling of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The veteran pacer removed opener Pathum Nissanka (1) off the fourth ball of the innings. In his second over, Bhuvneshwar had Karun Nair (5), who was playing his first game of the season, caught by Phil Salt.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocked Delhi Capitals with three early wickets

Bhuvneshwar then had Sameer Rizvi (2) caught by Jitesh Sharma to reduce Capitals to 18 for three. But KL Rahul then took charge of the proceedings and with Tristan Stubbs for company, he revived the Capitals’ fortunes. The duo added 69 off 44 balls for the fourth wicket. Rahul did the bulk of the scoring as he struck 47 off 27 balls and Stubbs contributed 18.

Just when it looked like Capitals were cruising to victory, Krunal Pandya struck. He had Rahul caught by Kohli for a 34-ball 57 (6×4 ,2×6).  But skipper Axar Patel and Stubbs held firm with a 47-run partnership off 35 balls for the fifth wicket before Axar retired hurt after making 26 (19b; 3×4).

Stubbs and Millers finish the job

At this stage, Capitals still needed 42 for victory. Stubbs and Miller joined hands to fashion the victory thanks to Miller’s heroics in the final over bowled by Romario Shephard. Stubbs remained unbeaten on a solid 60 off 47 balls with four boundaries and a six.

KL Rahul scored 57 to keep Delhi Capitals in the hunt against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru

“I wasn’t quite ready in the changing room. I just thought of watching the ball and going from there. Came in really early and last two overs of the powerplay I thought I could have a go. KL ended up having most of the strike and played great shots and kept up our momentum. I thought he’s going well so I was just giving him the strike. It wasn’t spinning or anything but just a little slow and low. Pretty much what I play on back at home,” said Stubbs who was named the Player of the Match.

“Kept thinking three sixes and we’re straight back in it. I always thought the worst case, in the last over we can get whatever we need. But I didn’t want to take it into the last over. I knew we were going to do it, I didn’t know how. But thankfully Miller was at the other end. It’s his bread and butter,” he added.

Bengaluru fail to make good Salt start

Earlier, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli (19) got Royal Challengers to a solid start by adding 52 for the first wicket. After that, Royal Challengers were unable to press home their advantage.

Phil Salt topscored with 63 but the later RCB batters failed to capitalise on the start

Salt made a topscore of 63 off 38 balls with four boundaries and three sixes. Tim David made 26 but the others failed to come to terms with the slowness of the wicket and could put up only 175 for eight on the board.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 175 for eight in 20 overs (Phil Salt 63, Tim David 26; Lungi Ngidi 2.39, Kuldeep Yadav 2/32, Axar Patel 2/18) lost to Delhi Capitals 179 for four in 19.5 overs (KL Rahul 57, Tristan Stubbs 60 not out, Axar Patel 26, David Miller 22 not out; Josh Hazlewood 3/26).