An enterprising innings from Guyanese Sherfane Rutherford who also claimed the prized wicket of AB de Villers helped the Delhi Capitals to a 16-run win over the Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore in match 46 of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday.
The win for Capitals also cemented their place in the playoffs after a six-year hiatus.
Capitals won the toss and elected to bat, rocketing to 129-4 in the 16thover after fifties from Shikhar Dhawan (50) and Skipper Shreyas Iyer (52). The latter’s dismissal brought the Guyanese to the crease and he then blasted 28 runs from 13 deliveries at the back end of the innings to make a huge impact with the bat. His knock included three huge maximums and a solitary four. He operated at a strike rate of over 200.
The 20-year-old Rutherford, who looked quite comfortable at the crease in only his third IPL outing, also shared in an unbroken 46-run stand with Axar Patel (16), the duo carrying Capitals to 185-5 at the end of their 20 overs.
Yuzvendra Chahal (2-41) ended as the pick of the bowlers for RCB who in reply, could only muster 171-7 when their allotted overs expired. Kohli (23) and the destructive De Villers (17) who was dismissed by Rutherford (1-16) both failed in a bid to carry RCB over the line and to keep their playoff hopes alive.
