Srikar Bharat of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hit a last-ball six to help his team register a 7-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match on Friday night at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai.

Invited to bat, Rishabh Pant’s DC scored a healthy 164/5 in their 20 overs. Shikhar Dhawan (43) and Prithvi Shaw (48) gave DC a solid start. However, after their dismissal, the middle order could not contribute much as the RCB bowlers stemmed the flow of runs.

Rishabh Pant (10) was dismissed by Daniel Christian cheaply. The following two batsmen Shreyas Iyer (18) and Shimron Hetmyer (29) were sent packing by Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj.

For RCB, Siraj returned with two wickets under his belt. Yuzvendra Chahal, Harshal Patel and Christian returned with one wicket apiece.

RCB, in reply, lost captain Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal for 4 and 0, respectively.

After their departure, the innings was steadied by Srikar Bharat and AB de Villiers who motored the team forward.

Srikar Bharat hit his maiden IPL fifty and that, too, in style. He not only hit the winning runs but also ended the match with 78 runs off 52 balls. During his innings he hit three boundaries and four maximums.

After De Villiers’ departure, he was ably supported by Glenn Maxwell who hit his 12 IPL fifty. Out in the middle, the Australian international hit two boundaries and one maximum.

For DC, Anrich Nortje returned with figures of 2/24 in his four overs. Axar Patel returned with one wicket under his belt.

With the league matches done, RCB will now meet KKR in the eliminator on October 11.

“Unbelievable game. We had nothing to lose, but it was a competitive game which is always the case in the IPL. To lose wickets and to still beat the team at the top of the table feels good. We have beaten them twice now,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation.

“The way AB batted in the beginning and then with KS (Bharat) and Maxwell, in the end, was unbelievable. The reality was that we had to win by 160 runs, and we thought that there could be a collapse or something. We thought of it the other way around. This gives us the confidence that we can pull off a game from any situation,” the Indian captain added.