Phil Salt discovered his form as Delhi Capitals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets at the Kotla in Delhi on Saturday evening.
David Warner’s team started the IPL with five consecutive losses and have showed signs of a turnaround having won their last two matches on the trot. Overall they have four wins and six losses from their 10 games. RCB, on the other hand, have five wins and five losses.
The Capitals batters showed intent from the start, piling up 70/1 in the Powerplay overs, in their chase of 182. David Warner and Phil Salt looked in fine nick before the Capitals’ captain departed in the sixth over.
But Salt was on song. In his last five innings, Salt recorded three ducks. His 59 against Sunrisers in their previous home match was followed by Saturday’s half-century. Having brought up his fifty in 28 balls, he hammered Mahipal Lomror for a six. He finally departed in the 16th over for 87 off 45 balls.
Salt and Rilee Rossouw continued their sterling show after the departure of Mitch Marsh. They took 24 runs off one Harshal Patel over which included three sixes and one boundary. Rossouw finally sealed victory with a six off Glenn Maxwell.
Earlier, half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Mahipal Lomror helped Royal Challengers Bangalore reach 181 for four.
While Kohli recorded his 50th half-century in IPL and sixth this season during his 55 off 46 balls, Lomror made 54 not out off 29. Kohli also became the first player to amass 7000 runs in the tournament.
None of the other batters, except for captain Faf du Plessis, could make significant contributions. Faf and Kohli gave RCB a flying start with an 82-run partnership after choosing to bat.
Lomror started off well, with a pulled six off Kuldeep Yadav. RCB have been wanting for someone beyond their top three to be consistent and Lomror made use of the opportunity.
Since his strike-rate against spin (160) is better than pace (96), he easily got going against the likes of Kuldeep and Axar Patel.
