Maxwell, Karthik’s fifties take RCB to 189/5

Mumbai, April 16 : Fifties by Glenn Maxwell and Dinesh Karthik helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to post 189/5 against Delhi Capitals (DC) in an IPL fixture here at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. RCB had a horrendous start after being put into bat, losing both openers Anuj Rawat and Faf du Plessis cheaply in the Powerplay. Shardul Thakur trapped Rawat for a duck in the second over, and Khaleel Ahmed took du Plessis (8) out of the contest just when he was about to accelerate. An incredible piece of fielding by Lalit Yadav ended Virat Kohli’s innings for 12. Maxwell took the responsibility and shrugged off some pressure as the Australian hammered Kuldeep Yadav for 23 runs, including two sixes and two fours. Kuldeep took the revenge as he bagged the crucial wicket of Maxwell for 55. The Australian looked to go big but ended up giving an easy catch to Lalit at long-on. Incoming Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed then lifted RCB with their aggressive approach. Karthik, who was dropped on 5, took a little while to get into his role of being the ‘finisher’. But once set, Karthik clobbered Mustafizur Rahman for 28 runs. The 18th over saw four boundaries and two maximums. All the while Shahbaz Ahmed who was playing second fiddle also started taking DC bowlers to cleaners. Karthik and Shahbaz finished on 66 not out and 31 not out, respectively. For DC, Mustafizur (0/48) and Kuldeep (1/46) returned as the costliest bowlers.

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