Delhi were stunned early on after the visitors won the toss and sent them to bat first, losing two wickets in just the second over. However, things after that seemed to be quite calm and composed at the Indian capital, with the home side scoring 57 at the end of the powerplay overs. In the middle phase, thanks to Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer, the Capitals managed to move through the part without many hurdles. Towards the end of the innings, a familiar collapse came haunting as the Delhi door broke into many segments, with the final score reading 149/9. 

Talking about the Dhaka side, well they were never in the chase - well with the exception of Delhi’s death overs. In just the first over, they lost two wickets before losing another couple as powerplay came crashing down. From 23/4, there was no chance that they could make a martial-esque comeback in the game, losing both the game and the plot in the middle phase of the innings. From there on, it was just a matter of time before Delhi wrapped up the Capital-esque efforts. 

Ishant Sharma’s opening over ultimately was the difference between the Bangladeshi side being 4/0 and 4/2. There is only little that can differentiate good from excellent. However, on the day, there was none as Ishant Sharma, who started as good reached the epitome before the end of the over. With the wickets of both Tamim Iqbal and Monimul Haque, Ishant truly changed the face of the game. 

On the other hand, the sad point of the game or for the home side, the merry part. Tamim Iqbal’s form has been shaky and despite being the focal point of the national team’s performance in the past few years, his form here in the SRL has been nothing short of terrible. Yet again, he flopped and failed in the very first over of the innings, falling to the Indian pacer Ishant Sharma, scoring just three runs off three deliveries. 

Despite the three-tumbling wickets in the powerplay, the Delhi batsmen did an excellent job with the bat. In just the first over, they showed intent and wasn’t it clearly seen - as they scored 11 runs in the opening over. From there on, they did have a sort of brake, which prevented their acceleration. However, with so many talents on the side, it is often very tough to stop them from scoring the runs. Indeed, as the powerplay came to a closure, they had already scored 57 runs for the loss of three wickets. Well played, sir!

Delhi’s middle-overs manoeuvring was horrible to watch but true to say, they were really watchful. Not only did they score 69 runs in the overs leading to the 15th but they just lost the one solitary wicket. If not for Iyer’s dismissal, this phase would have definitely been a perfect ploy for their death over performance. 

The low point of both innings - death over batting. However, with the ball, both the sides did a more-than-handy job, sometimes making us wonder if it was just the poor batting display which caused the landslide. Credit where it is due, Delhi bowlers picked up three wickets towards the end when the game already looked and spelt R.I.P. The point to note, however, is that they conceded 20 runs in achieving that job, which makes it horrific. 

When they told me that game is going to be a fun T20 contest, I should have known. But, little did I know that it was going to be a star-filled-snooze-battle. It was like putting all the superstars in the same cage and asking them to not punch each other. Truth to be said, they did try but nothing more than just a futile attempt.