IPL 2023: Phil Salt key to Delhi Capitals' playoff hopes

Phil Salt came up with an outrageous display of ball striking as Delhi Capitals kept themselves alive in the Indian Premier League with a thumping seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Delhi on Saturday.

Virat Kohli (55 off 56) completed his ‘homecoming’ with a landmark fifty before Mahipal Lomror (54 not out off 29) came up with a career-best knock to take Royal Challengers Bangalore to 181 for four.

Needing to win every game from here on to have a shot at a playoff berth, Delhi’s overseas batters played fearlessly to gun down the total in 16.4 overs.

Besides Salt’s sensational 87 off 45 balls, David Warner (22 off 14), Mitchell Marsh (26 off 17) and Rilee Rossouw (35 not out off 22) produced timely cameos.

"We spoke about being positive and taking them on," Salt said.

"We saw how good they were in Bangalore when they had their tails up. Something that's a real strength of mine is that if I really get going I don't take my foot off the pedal too often."

It was Delhi’s second consecutive win.

Having lost the first five games in the tournament, Delhi has now won four of its last five matches.

But it still needs to win the remaining four games to qualify for the playoffs.

If Salt can continue his brilliant form, Delhi will fancy its chances of reaching the knockout rounds.

RCB, on the other hand, suffered its fifth loss in 10 matches.

Salt and Warner came out all guns blazing as Delhi raced to 60 for no loss in five overs. The fifth over in which Mohammad Siraj conceded 19 runs gave Delhi the initial advantage and RCB could not fight back from there.

The premier India fast bowler could have avoided a heated exchange with Salt after the latter smashed him for couple of sixes and a four.

The flat six over extra cover off Siraj stood out in Salt’s special innings.

Delhi’s performance also highlighted their dependence on the foreign players with the Indian batters under-performing.

Earlier, Kohli mania swept the Feroz Shah Kotla as Delhi fans, on another day, were seen wearing the RCB jersey of their favourite player.

The star batter ensured they did not return home disappointed with a 55 off 46 balls, his sixth half century of the season, before Lomror played some breathtaking shots on way to his highest score in the IPL.

Kohli also became the first player to amass 7000 runs in the tournament history.

Both Kohli and Faf du Plessis (45 off 32), who have done the bulk of the scoring for RCB this season, took their time to get going in the powerplay.

Khaleel Ahmed bowled one short and wide in the opening over and Kohli was happy to put it past David Warner at mid off for his first boundary.

Among the highlights of Kohli’s innings was a pull and inside out shot he played off his Delhi mate Ishant Sharma.

Delhi Capitals was able to keep the high profile openers quiet till the fourth over.

Kohli reached his 50 off 42 balls but it was Lomror who provided the momentum in the middle overs. The 23-year-old reached his maiden fifty of the IPL with a crisp drive between extra cover and mid-off fielder.

Brief scores

Delhi beats Bangalore by seven wickets.

Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/4 (Virat Kohli 55, Mahipal Lomror 54, Mitchell Marsh 2/21)

Delhi Capitals 187/3 (Phil Salt 87, Rilee Rossouw 35, Josh Hazlewood 1/29)

Man-of-the-match: Phil Salt

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