19 April,2026 09:32 AM IST | Bengaluru | R Kaushik
Tristan Stubbs (left) and David Miller celebrate Delhi Capitals’s win over RCB in Bengaluru on Saturday. PICS/IPL
Ten days back, David Miller was the villain of the piece, turning down a single with two runs required for victory off two deliveries, an act that was to catalyse a heartbreaking one-run loss for Delhi Capitals, to Gujarat Titans.
On Saturday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the South African left-hander sang the most mellifluous redemption song, smashing Romario Shepherd for two sixes and a four off consecutive deliveries in the final over to deliver a rocking six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru. It was the defending champions' first defeat at home this season and thwarted their designs of overhauling Punjab Kings at the top of the IPL table, while DC arrested a two-match losing streak in the most emphatic of fashions.
"It feels really good. That game [vs GT] the other night was disappointing, but to get it done today [Saturday] feels good. It's always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game," a relieved Miller said after the last-over thriller. "Mentally, I was just trying to stay in the moment and do what I can. When I walked out, Stubbo [Stubbs] told me to keep the intensity really hard and that helped. It's always good finishing off games with Stubbo."
KL Rahul during his 57 off 34 balls on Saturday
Earlier, a disciplined bowling performance with skipper Axar Patel at the forefront had helped DC restrict Bengaluru's powerful batting line-up to a modest 175-8 in the only afternoon start at this ground. Riding on Phil Salt's 30-ball half-century and an opening stand of 52 with Virat Kohli, Bengaluru moved into a position of strength at 99-2 after 10 overs when the DC bowlers took over, with Axar and fellow left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav tightening the screws.
The pacers, Lungi Ngidi and T Natarajan, also came to the party towards the death as Bengaluru's innings hit a roadblock towards the end; only 29 runs came off the final five overs and the hosts finished with their lowest completed total of the season.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocked the DC chase with three strikes in his first two overs, when KL Rahul (57) and Tristan Stubbs, the Player of the Match for his composed unbeaten 60, launched the first fightback with an alliance of 69.
DC were struck a huge blow when Axar (26 off 19 balls) was forced to retire hurt with 42 needed off the last 25 balls, and his exit sucked the momentum out of the innings until Miller exploded in a frenzy at the end to purge the demons of 10 nights back at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
Brief scores
RCB 175-8 in 20 overs (P Salt 63, T David 26; A Patel 2-18, K Yadav 2-32, L Ngidi 2-39) lost to DC 179-4 in 19.5 overs (T Stubbs 60', KL Rahul 57; B Kumar 3-26) by six wickets
Two
No of 50-plus scores by KL Rahul on his birthday - the most by any player in IPL
Four
No of 50-plus scores by Tristan Stubbs while batting at No. 5 or lower - the second-most for DC
179-4
No of runs scored by DC on Saturday - their second-best run chase against RCB in Bengaluru
100
No of matches played by RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium
