Delhi Capitals bowled brilliantly on a tricky wicket in Abu Dhabi to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 152/7 in 20 overs.
Anrich Nortje was the pick of the bowlers, with 3/33 in his four overs. Kagiso Rabada chipped in two wickets. Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bowled a miserly spell of 1/18 in his four overs.
For RCB, opener Devdutt Padikkal top-scored with 50 but played 41 balls for it. He hit five fours and shared a 57-run stand with skipper Virat Kohli (29 off 24 balls).
With a number 2 position on points table up for grabs, DC skipper Shreyas Iyer chose to bowl first after winning the toss. Padikkal and Josh Philippe (12) were circumspect in the powerplay overs. Rabada provided the Capitals with the early breakthrough off his very first ball, claiming the wicket of the Australian in the fifth over.
The powerplay overs yielded 41 runs, including five fours and a maximum, for the loss of one wicket.
Kohli, who was dropped on 13 in the 10th over by Nortje, tried to up the ante in the 12th over by hitting Axar Patel for a six. The RCB skipper again looked to smash the ball over the fence in the next over but was caught at deep midwicket by Marcus Stoinis off an Ashwin delivery.
Nortje struck twice in the 16th over to get ride of Padikkal and South African all-rounder Chris Morris for a duck.
AB de Villiers (35) was yet again in sublime touch and raised a 33-run stand with young Shivam Dube (17 off 11 balls), but the duo couldn't power RCB to a bigger total.
(With PTI inputs)
