Delhi Capitals batter KL Rahul admitted there was some assistance for the bowlers on the M Chinnaswamy Stadium surface in the first few overs, making it tough for the batters early on. The star batter, celebrating his 34th birthday, produced a fine half-century in the chase to steady DC after they lost three wickets early in reply to RCB’s 175/8. Rahul brought much-needed calm to the innings after Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck with the new ball to put Delhi on the back foot.
Rahul also pointed out that RCB openers Virat Kohli and Phil Salt found it difficult to get going early on, with the ball not coming onto the bat as nicely as they would have liked. While DC suffered a similar fate or even worse, with three wickets inside the powerplay, which made the chase tricky for them.
"The wicket did a little bit early on. I could see Virat and Phil Salt not happy with the way the ball was coming on. Us losing three wickets in the first six overs didn't make it easy for us. So yeah, it was, I think all in all a really good cricket game," Rahul said in the post-match presentation.
He also shed light on Delhi Capitals’ approach after losing three early wickets, explaining how the focus remained on playing positive cricket and keeping the pressure on the bowlers rather than going into a defensive shell.
"The conversation was to continue to play good cricket shots and see how we can find boundaries and how we can still put pressure on the bowlers. We didn't want to go into our shell and then the run rate keeps climbing up, it gets harder and harder towards the end. We saw that when we bowled as well, when there was a little bit of reverse swing as well and the opposition have some really good death bowlers as well. So we didn't want to take it too deep. We just wanted to stay in the moment, take it one over at a time and try and put pressure on the bowlers. And yeah, he hit some good shots. I hit some good shots. As it turned out, it did go quite deep," he added.
“There was faith in Stubbs and Miller”
Rahul also addressed whether there were nerves towards the end of the chase, expressing confidence in the finishing abilities of Tristan Stubbs and David Miller while explaining the team’s thinking in the final overs.
"No nervousness at the end, there was faith in Stubbs and Miller. They do this on a daily basis for South Africa and franchise cricket. So, we also knew that the last two overs was going to be a gamble for RCB as well. And we knew that probably Romario Shepherd will bowl or maybe Suyash Sharma will bowl, which gives our batters a good chance to hit two sixes in the last two overs. So yeah, ideally we wouldn't have wanted it to go till the 20th over, but we'll take the win," he concluded.