Spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam helped Delhi Capitals stage a stirring comeback to restrict Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a below-par 163 for seven in the IPL match on Thursday.

RCB went past the 50-run mark in just three overs but failed to make the most of the explosive start as its middle order collapsed without offering any resistance.

Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (2/17) and leg-spinner Nigam (2/18) adjusted their lengths beautifully on a pitch that had a touch of sluggishness after their captain Axar Patel chose to bowl first.

Central to RCB's early charge was opener Phil Salt's 17 ball-37.

The Englishman hammered Mitchell Starc for a sequence of 6, 4, 4, 4, 6 to collect 24 runs in the third over. However, a miscommunication with his opening partner Virat Kohli ended his stay at the middle. Kohli (22, 14b) and Salt added 61 runs off 24 balls for the opening stand before he latter was ran out.

The introduction of leg-spinner Vipraj Nigam by Axar changed the course of the innings as he gave away just two runs in the fifth over. In the next over, Mohit Sharma also managed to keep things tight to put the pressure back on the RCB batters. Devdutt Padikkal (1 off 8) went for a release shot off Mohit, but it lacked any kinetic energy as Axar Patel completed an easy catch at the edge of the circle.

Kohli, who began to unshackle himself with a six off Nigam over long-on, soon fell to the same bowler while trying to clobber a delivery wide on the off-stump.

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Thereafter, the home side lost the wickets of Jitesh Sharma (4) and Liam Livingstone (3) in quick succession as they slipped to 102 for five in the 13th over, a far cry from the start they had.

In fact, the hosts lost five wickets for a mere 41 runs in just over eight overs, as DC bowlers exploited a hint grip on the surface to telling effect.

The passage between overs 6th and 13th also saw RCB batters managing just two fours and a six.

However, The RCB camp might have harboured some hopes of reaching a much more competitive total through skipper Rajat Patidar, who played a couple of delectable shots.

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But Kuldeep's skidder ended Patidar's stay (25) as stumper KL Rahul safely held the ball which almost touched the moon and came back.

Tim David (37 not out, 20b) played a few customary beefy shots in the death overs but it came a wee bit late as RCB's innings ended on a sad note of what could have been.