As it happened: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2022

Hazlewood conceded only seven from the 19th over, leaving Capitals 27 away from the target with six balls to go. Kuldeep Yadav hit Harshal's first ball for four, but that was followed by two dots. With 23 needed from three balls, Kuldeep managed another four but two singles on the last two balls mean Royal Challengers won by 16 runs.

It's their first win batting first this season. They are now third on the points table with eight points from six games. Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants also have eight points each but at a better NRR.

Nagraj Gollapudi points out that the teams are not shaking hands due to Patrick Farhart, the DC physio, testing positive and isolating.

That's all from my side for this game. See you soon.

After giving away only four off the first four balls, Harshal Patel ends up conceding a six to Shardul Thakur. A single on the final ball makes it 11 off the over, leaving Capitals needing 34 from 12 balls.

PS: As I was typing this, Hazlewood gets Thakur with a short ball. The batter tries the pull shot but ends up top-edging it and Karthik settles under it near short point.

Pant was keeping Capitals in the hunt on his own. With 56 needed off the last four overs, he hit Siraj for a six off the second ball. The next ball was a high full toss. Pant tried to smash it but lost balance. But it was still going over extra cover. Kohli moved to his right, timed his jump well and plucked it out with one hand.

Capitals 145/6. They need 45 off the last three overs, with Axat and Shardul in the middle.

Pant keeps Capitals in the hunt with a couple of lapped fours off Hasaranga before drilling one back towards the bowler. Hasaranga tries to make the stop but the ball brushes his fingers and hits the stumps at the bowler's end to find Marsh short. He walks back for 14 off 24.

Rovman Powell hasn't had a great time with the bat so far and his season gets even worse. Facing his first ball, he tries to run down Hazlewood to third man only to feather it behind.

Capitals 112/4 after 14.1. They need 78 off 35.

PS: In the same over, Hazlewood gets Lalit Yadav too, who pulls one straight to deep square leg.

...for the first time in T20s. RCB believe they are really in the game now. With Marsh stuck on 10 off 18, Warner tries a switch hit but fails to connect. The umpire gives it not out but RCB decide to review it. And the ball-tracking shows the ball would have hit the off stump (for a left-hander).

Pant joins Marsh in the middle.

Capitals 95/2 after 12, needing another 95 off eight overs.

Coming into this game, Warner had scored 43 runs in 21 balls off Wanindu Hasaranga, without a single dismissal. He fancies his chances again, slog-sweeping the legspinner for a six in his first over.

In the next over, he brings up his half-century, off 29 balls. Marsh is slow to start and is on 5 off ten balls.

Capitals 75/1 after nine. They need 115 in 11 overs, and our Forecaster gives them a 26% chance of winning.

Capitals started in an aggressive manner, with Warner and Shaw hitting at least one six between them in each of the first four overs. The two brought up the team's 50 in just 4.3 overs before Siraj broke the stand with Shaw's wicket. Warner then hit another four off Hazlewood in the next over to take Capitals to 57 for 1 at the end of the powerplay.

Shiva Jayaraman: Dinesh Karthik has taken his finishing game up a notch this IPL season. He has hit 32 boundaries in just 94 balls so far – that’s a boundary every 2.94 balls, the best for any batter who has faced at least 50 balls in a season.

Sunil Narine with 2.95 (44 boundaries off 130 balls in 2017) is second on this list. Narine occupies the next spot as well with 2.98 (63 boundaries off 188 balls in 2018). Then comes Andre Russell, twice, with 3.00 (83 off 249 in 2019) and 3.13 (54 off 169 in 2015).

Karthik’s best season before this was 2019 when he hit a boundary off every 4.8 balls – almost two more balls per boundary than this year.

S Rajesh: Off the tenth ball that he faced, with only five runs against his name, Dinesh Karthik offered Delhi Capitals a chance to dismiss him. Rishabh Pant made a mess of that chance, and then could only watch helplessly as Karthik made a mess of the bowling figures of the Capitals’ attack, scoring 51 off the last 18 balls he faced. What would have happened, though, had Pant taken that chance?

According to ESPNcricinfo’s Luck Index, Royal Challengers Bangalore would have finished on 163, not 189, had that catch been taken, which means the chance cost the Capitals 26 runs. That computation is done by a complex algorithm that calculates how many runs would have been scored by the other batsmen off the extra balls that Karthik faced, had that chance been taken.

In this case, Karthik scored 61 off the 24 balls he faced after he was dropped. According to the algorithm, the others – that includes Shahbaz Ahmed, who was unbeaten at the end, and the others who didn’t bat – would have scored 35 off those 24 deliveries.

Will those extra runs cost Delhi Capitals two points? We’ll know in a couple of hours.

At the end of the 15th over, I thought Royal Challengers would be happy if they can post 170 but Karthik's counterattacking knock has taken them to 189 for 5. Karthik finished with 66 off 34 balls with five sixes and as many fours. Shahbaz Ahmed gave him good company, scoring 32 off 21. The two added 97 in 8.4 overs in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand.

Can DC chase this down?

Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat: How quickly does Dinesh Karthik score against Shardul Thakur

He can get only seven off four balls off him in the 19th over.

Mustafizur Rahman has been the designated death bowler for Capitals but here Karthik has taken him apart. He has been in that kind of form. The first four was a lucky one - off an outside edge that went between the keeper and short third man as he looked to scoop it. But that was followed by hitting the highest class - a reverse pull, a cover drive, two lofts over long-off and then a chip over the bowler's head.

In all, 28 came from that over, making it Mustafizur Rahman's most expensive over in T20s. With the last four, he brought up his fifty as well, off just 26 balls.

Kuldeep almost had Karthik twice in two overs. Both times the chance came off a wrong'un. This time Karthik looks to push at it and gets an under edge. Pant gets both hands to it but it doesn't stick.

Unlike all the other games so far, Karthik has started rather slowly tonight. He was on 7 off 13 before pulling Khaleel Ahmed over deep square leg for a six. This is also the first six off Khaleel this season.

RCB 115/5 after 15. Can they reach 170 here?

But guess what? Pant throws the ball to Kuldeep once again. This time he has the cushion of the bigger leg-side boundary. Perhaps that's why Maxwell looks to go straighter. But the ball dips on him and he ends up offering a simple catch to Lalit Yadav.

Dinesh Karthik is the new batter and for a moment, it looked like Kuldeep had him too as he looked to pull a googly but got the top edge. Luckily for Karthik, it fell short and to the right of long-on.

RCB 95/5 after 12

Maxwell is the only one keeping RCB alive. Thakur strays down the leg side and Maxwell clips him for four to bring up his half-century, off just 30 balls.

RCB 91/4 after 11

More trouble for RCB as Axar Patel snares Suyash Prabhudessai. Prabhudessai first dragged Axar to the deep midwicket boundary but then looked to reverse pull him on the next ball. All he could manage was mistiming it to Kuldeep Yadav at backward point.

Shahbaz Ahmed is the new batter and opens his account with a four.

RCB 82/4 after ten

Kuldeep Yadav has had a pretty successful IPL so far, picking up ten wickets in just four games. But Maxwell has taken the attack to him. It's not that it was a particularly bad over but Maxwell made it look so.

The first ball was just short of a good length, pitching outside off. Maxwell rocked back and pulled it towards deep midwicket for four. Two balls later, he pulled a similar length, but a straighter line, over deep midwicket for a six. When Kuldeep went full and wide, Maxwell creamed him through covers. When he went full and straight, Maxwell launched him over deep midwicket once more. In all, he took 23 from that over.

After managing only 12 off his first 13 balls, Kohli drops one towards cover-point and sets off. But Maxwell realises there is no run there and sends Kohli back. Lalit Yadav charges towards the ball, and nails the direct hit while throwing off balance, that too with just one stump visible.

Kohli tries to retrace his steps but is too late to get back, as third umpire finds out.

RCB in a bit of trouble here - 42/3 after seven.

Maxwell finds two fours off Mustafizur Rahman in the sixth over, which helps Royal Challengers finish the powerplay on 40 for 2. So far in this season, they have scored at 6.58 runs per over in the first six. How do Capitals fare in that phase? Check this Maruti Suzuki ASKcricinfo stat to find out.

After a slow start, du Plessis tries to break the shackles. He skips down the track to Khaleel Ahmed and looks to go over covers. But he fails to middle it and the ball carries to the Axar Patel, who runs to his right from deep point and pouches it.

Glenn Maxwell joins Kohli in the middle. He steers the last ball of the over past short third man to open his account with a four.

RCB 17/2 after three

Mustafizur Rahman troubled Faf du Plessis in the first over, but it's Shardul Thakur who strikes first. It was a full ball on the stumps. Anuj Rawat moved across to flick it but missed and was struck right in front. That brings Virat Kohli to the crease.

Delhi Capitals have won the toss and decided to bowl first. Rishabh Pant says the wicket is looking on the drier side. "Mitchell [Marsh] comes in for Sarafarz," he says. That means they are going with four overseas players, which means Rovman Powell gets to keep his place.

Faf du Plessis also agrees the pitch looks dry and on the slower side. Harshal Patel is back for Royal Challengers, so Akash Deep goes out.

Here are the XIs:

Delhi Capitals 1 Prithvi Shaw, 2 David Warner, 3 Mitchell Marsh, 4 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 5 Lalit Yadav, 6 Rovman Powell, 7 Axar Patel, 8 Shardul Thakur, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Mustafizur Rahman, 11 Khaleel Ahmed

Royal Challengers Bangalore 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Josh Hazlewood