Krunal Pandya played a starring role as Royal Challengers Bengaluru beat the Delhi Capitals to move top of the Indian Premier League table. (As It Happened | Full Coverage)
After claiming the wicket of Faf du Plessis, Krunal and Virat Kohli put together a 119-run stand as RCB successfully chased down their target of 163 for a six-wicket victory.
Abishek Porel (28 off 11 balls) got the Capitals off to a decent start, until he was bowled by Josh Hazlewood (2-36) in the fourth over.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hazlewood took five wickets between them, with Krunal ending his bowling innings with figures of 1-28 as RCB assumed control of the contest.Â
Du Plessis - back from a groin injury - chipped in with 22, while KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs scored 41 and 34 respectively, as Delhi finished at 162-8.
RCB's chase got off to a shaky start, with Jacob Bethell (12), Devdutt Padikkal (duck) and Rajat Patidar (six) all dismissed to leave them at 26-3 after four overs.
However, Krunal (73 not out) and Kohli (51 off 47 deliveries) steadied the ship, with RCB's recovery coming in two stages on a tricky surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.Â
By the 10-over mark, Kohli and Krunal had put on 40 in 36 balls, and neither batter was looking fluent.
But Krunal found his hitting range, and took off. Having been on 17 off 21 balls at one stage, he hit 56 off his last 26 balls. Kohli then fell with RCB needing 18 off 13.
However, a flurry of late boundaries from Tim David (19 not out) got them over the line with nine balls remaining.
Data Debrief: Kohli moves into pole position for Orange Cap
Bhuvneshwar Kumar did the damage in the field for RCB, recording figures of 3-33.
That took his IPL wicket tally to 193, moving him above Piyush Chawla (192) to second place on the all-time list, with only Yuzvendra Chahal (214) now ahead of him.
Meanwhile, Kohli delivered his fourth half-century in a chase this season, while moving top of the Orange Cap standings after taking his run tally to 443.
