Khaleel Ahmed struck twice for Delhi Capitals on Sunday as the pacer surged to fifth position in the IPL 2024 Purple Cap race. The 26-year-old pacer returned with figures of 2/31 as DC restricted Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 187/9 in 20 overs. Meanwhile Rajat Patidar (52) got a half-century for RCB.
Chasing 188, DC crumbled for 140 in 19.1 overs, despite a half-century from Axar Patel (57). For RCB’s bowling department, Yash Dayal took three wickets. It turned out to be a one-sided affair as RCB sealed an easy win.
Currently Mumbai Indians pacer Jasprit Bumrah leads the Purple Cap race with 20 wickets in 13 matches, and is followed by Punjab Kings’ Harshal Patel (20) in second position. Kolkata Knight Riders spinner Varun Chakaravarthy (18) is in third position, Chennai Super Kings’ bowler Tushar Deshpande (16) is fourth and Khaleel is fifth with 16 wickets.
Speaking after DC’s defeat on Sunday, Axar Patel said, “Dropped catches hurt us. Could’ve restricted them to 150. When you lose four wickets in powerplay, you’re always chasing the game. 160-170 would’ve been a par score. Pitch was two-paced. Some were skidding, some were holding. When your main players are run out and you lose four in powerplay, you’re chasing the game. Anything can happen, but haven’t thought that far ahead.”
Meanwhile, RCB pacer Lockie Ferguson stated, “We’ve all been working really hard throughout the tournament. Even when we were losing, it was all very even, we were still enjoying ourselves, we knew that things would go right soon. The batters did extremely well, it was gripping a bit more than normal. Looking forward to a few days off and then taking on Chennai. Can be challenging bowling here, been great working with Griffith (bowling coach). Makes it easy when we take wickets throughout.”
