South African speedster Kagiso Rabada and Man of the Match Axar Patel were the stars of the night on Monday as Delhi Capitals beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 59 runs at the Dubai International Stadium.

After Marcus Stoinis smashed 53 off 26 deliveries and Prithvi Shaw made 23-ball 42 and helped Delhi in posting 196/4, Rabada and Axar led Delhi Capitals’ attack to restrict RCB to 137/4.

It was Delhi Capitals’ fourth win which took them to the top of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). The Shreyas Iyer-led team have now eight points from five games.

While Rabada and Axar set the stage on fire with figures of 4/24 and 2/18 respectively, they received good support from compatriot Anrich Nortje (2/22) and and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/26).

Chasing the target, RCB suffered a top-order collapse, losing opener Devdutt Padikkal (4), Aaron Finch (13) and AB de Villiers (9) with just 43 runs on board in 5.5 overs.

While Ashwin sent back Padikkal, Axar Patel and Nortje accounted for the wicket of Finch and de Villiers respectively.

Kohli (43) and Moeen Ali (11) tried to stabilise the innings with a brief 32-run stand for the fourth wicket.

Axar, however, didn’t let the partnership develop as this time he struck to send back Ali in the 12th over. And after RCB had managed another 19 through Kohli and Washington Sundar (17), Rabada dismissed the RCB captain who tried to accelerate the run-rate. He fell seven short of his half-century. Kohli’s fall left RCB reeling at 94/5 in 13.3 overs.

Rabada struck again in the 16th over, sending back Sundar, before ShivanDube (11), too, became a victim of the South African quick in the 18th over.

Two balls later, Rabada dismissed Isuru Udana (1), leaving RCB reeling at 119/8 in 17.3 overs. Nortje, too, joined the party as he clean bowled Mohammed Siraj in the penultimate over when RCB were still 70 runs away from the target.

Navdeep Saini (12) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0) remained unbeaten, but couldn’t stop DC from sealing a comfortable victory.

Asked to bat, DC openers Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan (32) handed a flying start to their side, adding 63 runs for the first wicket in the initial six overs.

RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj came with the first breakthrough, dismissing Shaw in the next over. The DC opener’s knock contained five boundaries and two sixes.

However, Pant and Stoinis rescued their side with an 89-run stand, denying the RCB from making anymore inroads. While Pant rotated the strike, Stoinis was on in a murderous mood right from the start.

Siraj finally broke the partnership, sending back Pant in the 19th over. However, the damage was already done. Four balls later, Stoinis smashed Siraj for a boundary to notch up his second half-century of the ongoing season.

Next batsman Shimron Hetmyer (11 not out) and Stoinis collected 12 runs off the final over to help DC post a competitive total.

For RCB, Siraj picked two wickets for 34 runs while Udana and Moeen settled for one each.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 196/4 wkts in 20 overs (M Stoinis 53 not out, P Shaw 42, M Siraj 2/34) beat RCB 137/9 wkts (Virat Kohli 43, Washington Sundar 17; KagisoRabada 4/24) by 59 runs