Delhi Capitals denied Royal Challengers Bengaluru the chance of going top of the Indian Premier League by securing a thrilling six-wicket victory at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Opener Phil Salt top-scored with 63 but Delhi's bowlers helped restrict Bengaluru to 175-8 in their 20 overs, with Lungi Ngidi (2-39), Kuldeep Yadav (2-32) and captain Axar Patel (2-18) all claiming two wickets.
Delhi suffered a nightmare start to their chase, though, with Pathum Nissanka (one), Karun Nair (five) and Sameer Rizvi (two) all falling cheaply to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the powerplay as they slumped to 18-3 after three overs.
KL Rahul, celebrating his 34th birthday, and Tristan Stubbs then started the recovery with the opener dominating the bowlers and putting his team in the driving seat.
But Krunal Pandya robbed Rahul the chance of seeing off too successive chases at his home ground as he fell for 57, which had come off 34 balls, to leave Delhi on 87-4 at the halfway point.
However, RCB then began to apply the pressure with Pandya (1-24) conceding five off his final over while Bhuvneshwar (3-16) gave away just four. Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood, whose first three overs had been clobbered for 34, also conceded just four.
Axar's cameo of 26 off 19 was ended when he retired hurt suffering from cramp which would bring together South African duo David Miller and Stubbs. With Delhi needing 15 off the final over, Miller smashed two big sixes and then a four off Romario Shepherd to seal victory with one ball to spare.
Miller, who missed out on helping Delhi to a win against the Gujarat Titans last week, made amends this time around finishing with an unbeaten 22 off 10 balls. Stubbs top-scored with 60 off 47.
“Feels really good. After that game the other night, was a disappointing game, but to get it done today feels good,” said Miller. It's always going to be at the back of the mind till you win another game.
“Mentally, I was just trying to stay in the moment and do what I can. They bowled six yorkers to me and I couldn't really get going but chuffed it came off in the last six overs.
When I walked out, Stubbo said to me to keep the intensity really hard and that helped. Always good finishing off games with Stubbo and he just said 'thank you so much, you saved me there'. For him being there was massive for us.”
Player of the match Stubbs admitted he was “not quite ready in the dressing room” when he was called into action. “I Came in really early and last two overs of the powerplay I thought I could have a go.
“KL ended up having most of the strike and played great shots and kept up our momentum. I thought he's going well so I was just giving him the strike.
“[The pitch] wasn't spinning or anything but just a little slow and low. Pretty much what I play on back at home.
“I always thought the worst case, in the last over we can get whatever we need. But I didn't want to take it into the last over. I knew we were going to do it, I didn't know how. But thankfully Miller was at the other end. It's his bread and butter.”
Earlier, Bengaluru openers Salt and Virat Kohli began briskly, but the tempo dipped when Ngidi struck in his opening over to dismiss Kohli for 19 off 13 balls.
Salt then took control with a fluent 63 off 38 deliveries, before Tim David added a lively 26 off 17 as the Delhi bowlers did a decent job of checking the run flow.
“That was really close but I feel that we were 15-20 runs short,” said RCB captain Rajat Patidar who contributed just eight runs with the bat. “I think the pitch was a bit tacky but the way we stretched the game to the last over was a positive sign for us.
“It's a long tournament but we'll go back and introspect on our errors and rectify them.”
The match marked a milestone for the hosts, who became the first team to play 100 IPL matches at a single venue but failed to secure the win which would have seen them leapfrog Punjab Kings at the top of the table.
Delhi - who moved up to fourth in the standings - next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, while Bengaluru host Gujarat Titans on Friday.
