Delhi Capitals won the toss against the Royal Challengers Bangalore and as has been the case this season, put the opposition in to bat, knowing fully well that most matches have been won by teams chasing and that they had a plethora of accomplished batters in their line-up who could deliver when necessary.
Fast forward to the second half of the match and 190 seemed very much within Delhi's means.
The writing was on the wall barely two balls into Glenn Maxwell's opening over for RCB as David Warner got down on one knee and slogged the ball to deep mid-wicket for an outrageous six. By the end of the first over, Delhi were 9-0 and by the end of the second, it was 19-0.
Josh Hazlewood was introduced and immediately both Warner and Prithvi Shaw took turns to hammer him for a six and a four respectively. By the end of the third over, Delhi were on course at 30-0.
Shahbaz Ahmed was brought into the attack in the fourth over and Warner gleefully accepted the challenge, smashing a six and a four off the over by the end of which Delhi had raced away to 45-0.
Early in the 5th over, Delhi hit their first milestone -- 50 off 27 balls. This is also where they faced their first major setback.
Shaw, carried away with the momentum of the onslaught, tried to hook the ball over the ropes off Mohammad Siraj's bowling and only managed to offer a straightforward catch to Anuj Rawat in the outfield. Delhi had lost their first wicket.
Warner remained unfazed and continued to spearhead Delhi's run chase, taking Shaw's replacement Mitchell Marsh -- playing his first IPL 2022 game -- under his wing.
His 50 arrived shortly after, off a mere 29 balls -- his 52nd IPL half-century!
By the end of the 11th over, Warner had rallied his team's innings to 93/1 -- a competitive position to be in before launching the final charge in the closing stages of the match.
And it is here that RCB made the breakthrough that would dismiss the Delhi talisman and set forth a series of events that eventually resulted in a complete collapse of Delhi's innings.
It was the third delivery of the 12th over. As Warner went down on one knee and attempted to slog a full length delivery from Wanindu Hasaranga, the ball smashed against his thigh and when the umpire said Not Out, RCB opted for a review and the replays proved otherwise.
Warner was dismissed after a whirlwind 66 off 38 balls. With Warner gone, Delhi lost their mojo and within a matter of ten balls, three more wickets fell in quick succession as Marsh, Rovman Powell and Lalit Yadav were dismissed cheaply.
Delhi Captain Rishabh Pant tried to resurrect the innings, but with a rapidly mounting run-rate, was dismissed by a marvelous one-handed catch by Virat Kolhi -- departing for a valiant 34 off 17 balls.
By the end of the 20th over, Delhi stumbled to 173-7 -- sixteen runs short. In retrospect, it all points back to the Warner dismissal that eventually turned the match on its head.
'Warner batted beautifully and gave us every chance to win this match,' Pant said in his post-game interview. 'We could've batted better in the middle overs... We've got to learn from our mistakes.'
