Rishabh Pant and Shimron Hetmyer’s fifties went in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Delhi Capitals (DC) by 1 run in the 22nd match of the IPL 2021 here on Tuesday.

AB de Villiers’ fantastic fifty powered RCB to 171/5 in 20 overs after DC captain Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to bowl. De Villiers, who smashed 73 runs in 41 balls was the top scorer while Rajat Patidar (31) and Glenn Maxwell (25 off 20 balls) also made valuable contributions with bat for RCB.

Ishant Sharma (1/26), Axar Patel (1/33), Kagiso Rabada (1/38), Amit Mishra (1/27), Avesh Khan (1/24) were the wicket-takers for DC.

In reply, Pant (58 not out) and Hetmyer’s (53 not out) fifties were not enough as Delhi Capitals ended with 170 for four in 20 overs and fell short of the target by 1 run.

Harshal Patel 2/37 was the stand-out bowler for RCB.

Win this victory, Virat Kohli’s men returned to the top of the IPL 2021 points table with their 5th win of the season.

Brief Scores

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 171/5 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 75 not out, Rajat Patidar 31).

Delhi Capitals: 170/4 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 58 not out, Shimron Hetmyer 53 not out; Harshal Patel 2/37).