IPL 2026: Delhi Capitals down in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru
What's the story
Delhi Capitals (DC) showcased a brilliant display of with ball and bat to defeat an in-form Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Match 26 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 season on Saturday. The game was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Despite a knock of 63 off 38 balls from opener Phil Salt, RCB struggled in the second half of their innings to post 175/8. In respone, fifties from KL Rahul and Tristan Stubbs helped DC win.
RCB
Summary of RCB's innings
RCB were off to a decent start as openers Salt and Virat Kohli added 52 runs for the 1st wicket. After Kohli's dismissal, Devdutt Padikkal joined Salt and the two added 47 runs. Once Salt was dismissed in the 11th over (105/3), RCB lost momentum. Despite a 12-ball 26-run stand between Rajat Patidar and Tim David, DC made their way back into the contest. RCB ended up scoring 175/8.
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How did the DC bowlers fare?
Auqib Nabi Dar bowled three overs and clocked 0/36. Mukesh Kumar picked 1/32 from 4 overs. Lungi Ngidi was decent and clocked 2/39 from his 4-over quota. Kuldeep Yadav did well and managed 2/32. T Natarajan bowled 2 overs and went wicketless (0/16). Axar Patel bagged 2/18 from three overs.
Salt
Phil Salt completes 8,500 T20 runs with 63 vs DC
Salt made a 38-ball 63, hammering four fours and three sixes. As per ESPNcricinfo, the right-handed batter raced to 8,514 runs from 338 matches (328 innings) at an average of 28. The tally includes 55 fifties, four tons, and a strike rate of 155.16. 1,717 of his runs have come in T20Is for England at 34.34 (100s: 4, 50s: 8). Salt owns 1,258 runs from 40 IPL matches at 34. The former DC and KKR player hammered his 12th fifty.
Padikkal
Devdutt Padikkal completes 3,500 runs in T20 cricket
Padikkal, who scored 18 runs, breached the 3,500-run mark in T20 cricket. Padikkal now owns 3,515 runs across 121 games (120 innings) at an average of 32.24. His strike rate is a healthy 137.25. The left-handed batter owns 23 fifties and 4 hundreds in T20s. Notably, 1,950 of his T20 runs have come in the IPL from 80 games at 25.77. Another 1,518 of his runs have come in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.
David
Tim David becomes second-fastest to 1,000 IPL runs (by balls)
David completed 1,000 runs in the IPL with his 7th of the contest. David made a 17-ball 26 against DC, scoring three fours and a six. He now has 1,019 runs from 56 IPL matches. His strike rate of 177.83 is the best among batters with 1,000-plus IPL runs. As per Cricbuzz, David took the second-least number of balls to complete 1,000 IPL runs (560). He is only behind Andre Russell, who needed just 545 deliveries.
DC bowlers
Key numbers for Kuldeep, Ngidi and Axar
Kuldeep raced to 107 IPL wickets from 103 matches with his two scalps against RCB. Overall in T20s, he has amassed 246 wickets from 194 matches at 20.83. Ngidi owns 227 T20 wickets from 180 matches at 21.78. The South African has 36 IPL scalps from 21 matches at 19.27. Axar has picked 133 IPL wickets from 167 matches at 31.38. In T20s, he has 275 wickets from 314 matches at 26.95.
Chase
How did DC's chase pan out?
Rahul kept his calm and played a positive brand of cricket despite DC losing three early wickets. He helped DC finish the powerplay on 50/3. Rahul scored 31 runs in this phase. Rahul and Stubbs built a stand and rotated strike. In the 8th over, Rahul charged at Suyash Sharma before completing his fifty in the 10th. Krunal Pandya dismissed Rahul shortly thereafter. Stubbs then took over and was part of two key partnerships alongside Axar and David Miller.
Rahul
42nd fifty for Rahul in his 150th IPL appearance
Rahul's knock had 2 sixes and six fours. Playing his 150th IPL match (141 innings), Rahul raced to 5,390 runs at 45.67. He hammered his 42nd fifty in IPL (100s: 5). As per ESPNcricinfo, Rahul also clocked his 5th fifty against RCB (100s: 1). He owns 839 runs from 19 games against RCB at 69.91. Overall in T20s, Rahul owns 8,293 runs from 244 matches (231 innings) at 42.31. He smashed his 70th T20 fifty (100s: 7).
Stubbs
14th T20 fifty from Stubbs' blade
Stubbs scored an unbeaten 47-ball 60. His knock consisted of four fours and 1 six. With this effort, Stubbs now owns 3,565 runs in T20s from 171 matches (152 innings) at 34.61. He slammed his 14th T20 fifty. In the IPL, this was the batter's 5th fifty. He owns 874 runs from 37 matches at 46.
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Bhuvneshwar Kumar claims three wickets
For RCB, pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked a three-fer. In 196 IPL games, he has picked 208 wickets at 26.98. Versus Delhi Capitals, the pacer has managed 26 wickets from 24 IPL games at 27.61. Overall in T20s, he owns 345 wickets from 322 matches at 24.82.
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A look at the points table
With this win, DC have moved to 4th with three wins and 2 defeats from 5 matches. On the other hand, RCB remain 2nd with two defeats and 4 wins from 6 games.