A stellar display both with the bat and the ball saw Delhi trounce Bangalore by 59 runs in match 19 of the Indian T20 League.
Here are some of the key talking points from the contest:
Delhi, the best bowling unit?
Ahead of the season, Delhi were touted to be one of the best bowling units in this season and they are more than living up to their billing.
In Kagiso Rabada, Delhi have one of the best bowlers in world cricket and the South African speedster is proving invaluable this season for the side. The 25-year-old dismantled the Bangalore batting line-up, picking up four wickets while giving away just 24 runs in his quota of four.
His partner, Anrich Nortje, too, had a spectacular outing, finishing with figures of 2-22 in his four overs. Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, two of the most economical spinners in the Indian T20 League, combined to give away just 44 runs in their eight overs and also dismissed three batsmen.
The fifth bowler, Harshal Patel, went for 43 in his four overs and was the only Delhi bowler who had a rough outing today. However, the other four bowlers were tremendous, rendering Patel's bad day at the office futile.
Delhi have limited the opposition to under 140 on two occasions and under 160 once in their five matches and are proving to be the toughest bowling unit to score runs against in this edition of the Indian T20 League.
Bangalore's bowling woes
What now seems like a perennial issue with the franchise, Bangalore's bowling woes continue to haunt them in the Indian T20 League.
The team have already used nine different bowlers in six matches with Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal and Navdeep Saini being the only constant.
Pacers Usuru Udana, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav and Dale Steyn have all been smashed for runs while Adam Zampa, Shivam Dube and Moeen Ali, who played his first match of the season today, have all failed to nail a place in the starting XI.
Bangalore's reliance on their batting line-up is no revelation but given the inconsistent form of Aaron Finch, the pressure to deliver on Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and rookie Devdutt Padikkal is simply too much. Their bowling is their bane and there is no quick-fix in sight for coach Simon Katich and his side.
Stoinis stars with the bat again
Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been the x-factor that Delhi were yearning for.
The 31-year-old scored his second half-century of the season, scoring 53 off 26 balls, helping Delhi score 106 in the final 57 deliveries of their innings.
The Australian smashed four boundaries and two sixes on a ground where boundaries are hard to come by and was the difference for his side on the day.
Stoinis will be Delhi's designated finisher for the season and the team will be extremely content with his form so far this season.
Kohli's return to form
On what was a forgettable evening, the only silver lining for Bangalore was captain Virat Kohli's fighting knock of 43 off 39.
The skipper scored only two fours and hit one six in his innings of 43 and had scored over 40% of his team's runs at the time of his dismissal in the 14th over. Kohli's 43 comes on the back of a match-winning 73 against Rajasthan in the previous outing.
The 31-year-old had a rough start to the season but has played two good knocks back-to-back. No team is perhaps as reliant on their star batsman as Bangalore are, hence it is imperative that Kohli continues his good form if his team are to go deep into the tournament this season.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter / @indiant20league
