Krunal Pandya, RCB's away-match specialist

For much of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's tense chase against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday, run-scoring had appeared like a desperate slog.

- Samreen Razzaqui

NEW DELHI: At one point, Virat Kohli was scratching around on 28 off 26 balls. Krunal Pandya had crawled to 17 off 21.

The ball just wasn't coming on to the bat and the bowlers kept hammering away with relentless discipline. But cometh the hour, cometh Krunal Pandya.

He had appeared to be struggling for the longest time; he was even hit by a bouncer in the first 20 deliveries he faced. It looked like the 163-run chase was going nowhere. But when the opening arrived, Krunal cashed in with efficiency.

First, a soaring six off Dushmantha Chameera in the 11th over broke the shackles. Then, two more in the 13th off Mukesh Kumar—including a shot over long-off against a ball of good length. RCB suddenly had momentum but there was a long way to go but the 119-run partnership between Krunal and Kohli proved to be the heart of it.

From a laboured start to a fluent finish, Krunal's unbeaten 73 off 47 balls took RCB to an important win, keeping their playoff hopes alive. But this wasn't a one-dimensional show.