• Rossouw finally delivers for Delhi

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    Rilee Rossouw made his first significant contribution in this year’s IPL as the Delhi Capitals beat Faf du Plessis’ Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets on Saturday.

    The Proteas batsman hit an unbeaten 35 off 22 balls (one four, three sixes) to help the Capitals reach their target of 182 with 20 balls remaining.

    But it was England’s Phil Salt who stole the show at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground with a blazing 87.

    Salt, a wicketkeeper-batsman, began with a 60-run stand with Capitals captain David Warner, who hit 22, and then put together 59 runs with Mitchell Marsh, who smashed 26.

    The batting effort trumped Virat Kohli’s 55 and an unbeaten 54 by Mahipal Lomror which helped Bangalore to 181-4 after electing to bat first.

    Salt got into a mid-pitch exchange with opposition pace bowler Mohammed Siraj and the verbal duel only spurred him to finish with six sixes in his 45-ball knock.

    Leg-spinner Karn Sharma bowled Salt before Rossouw hit 35* and sealed the match with a six.

    Delhi, who started the season with five losses, moved up from the bottom to ninth in the 10-team table with slim chances of making the top four for a place in the playoffs.

    Proteas fast bowler Anrich Nortje missed the match for the Capitals after he flew back home late Friday due to a “personal emergency”.

    The spotlight remained on the Delhi-born Kohli as the former captain set foot on the ground in front of a capacity crowd, mostly wearing the star’s Bangalore jersey.

    His every run was cheered and the superstar, who was playing his first game after an ugly spat with Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir, obliged the fans with his fifth half-century of the season.

    In-form captain Faf du Plessis, who consolidated his top spot in the batting chart with 511 runs, put on an 82-run opening stand with Kohli.

    MORE: Du Plessis takes 2023 IPL run tally past 500

    But it was Lomror who set the Bangalore innings on fire with his blitz after Mitchell Marsh sent back Du Plessis, for 45 off 32 balls, and Glenn Maxwell, for a first-ball duck.

    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt