Twitter Reactions: DC qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2012; knock RCB out as well

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have been officially knocked out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). They lost to the Delhi Capitals (DC) by 16 runs while chasing the mammoth total of 188 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. The Capitals, with the victory, have qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and have also climbed to the top of the table.

The chase began superbly for RCB with Parthiv Patel attacking every bowler that came his way in the powerplay. The visitors raced to the fifty-run mark in the fifth over and it also turned out to be their fastest this season. Patel also smacked Kagiso Rabada for a couple of fours but got out to the same bowler in the sixth over but not before scoring 39 off 20 balls.

Virat Kohli also got to a start but he missed a short ball from Axar Patel and was holed out in the deep. Sherfane Rutherford’s golden arm got the huge wicket of AB de Villers and RCB collapsed from being 103/2 to 111/5 with Shivam Dube getting out. Marcus Stoinis and Gurkeerat Mann though took the game deep and the equation came down to 30 off the last two overs.

But Ishant Sharma bowled a game-changing penultimate over and he also picked the latter’s wicket to leave 26 runs for Rabada to defend. The South African was never going to concede those many as the RCB fell short of the target by 16 runs. They could only reach 171 runs for the loss of seven wickets and are knocked out of the IPL now.

Dhawan and Iyer slam half-centuries

Earlier, DC got off to a brilliant start courtesy Shikhar Dhawan. The left-hander has gained form at the right time for his team and most importantly, he has been consistent in the last few matches. Dhawan slammed a half-century with five fours and a couple of sixes before getting out to Yuzvendra Chahal. His opening partner Prithvi Shaw endured another failure this season and he could only muster 18 runs off 10 balls.

Shreyas Iyer once again played a superb knock for his team. He stitched a 65-run partnership for the second with Dhawan and kept his team ahead in the game. But as the pitch slowed down in the second half of the innings, the wickets started to fall. DC lost Rishabh Pant and Iyer both in the space of four deliveries and their hopes of getting to a decent total were dashed.

But RCB’s poor death bowling led to the home team scoring 46 runs in the last three overs. Sherfane Rutherford and Axar Patel hit some lusty blows off Navdeep Saini and Umesh Yadav’s bowling to propel the team’s total to 187 runs for the loss of five wickets. The score was eventually enough as RCB became the first team to be knocked out.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Get the latest Cricket News and updates from the Indian Premier League (IPL), Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.