Royal Challengers Bangalore piped the Delhi Capitals by 1 run in a nail biting contest courtesy of another AB de Villiers masterclass at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.

The last ball thriller that saw RCB reclaim the top spot at the IPL points table featured some brilliant performances by Shimron Hetmyer and Rishabh Pant. However, it couldn't suffice as Pant only managed to hit a boundary while DC required 6 off the final delivery to hand RCB a narrow escape by 1 run.

Chasing a target of 172 runs, Capitals lost their experienced war horse Shikhar Dhawan cheaply as the southpaw handed a straight forward catch to Yuzvendra Chahal scoring just 6. An over later, Steve Smith also followed him to the pavilion before adding just 4 runs off 5 deliveries.

DC opener Prithvi Shaw looked in fine tune while his stay at the crease but only managed to score 21 off 18 before edgeding one to ABD off Harshal Patel. Marcus Stoinis and Pant then steadied the chase for DC, sharing a 45 runs partnership for the fourth wicket.

However RCB's find of the season Harshal Patel put an end to the solid partnership with the priced wicket of Stoinis. Hetmyer was the next man to walk in and he along with the DC skipper added 78 runs that shifted the momentum on their side. Batting at No. 6, Hetmyer slammed an unbeatable 53 runs off 25 balls laced with 4 sixes in his match defining effort.

Earlier, DC had won the toss and had asked Virat & Co. to bat first. DC bowlers did a fine job providing a flying start to their side with valuable wickets of Virat Kohli (12 off 11) and Devdutt Padikkal (17 off 14) in the powerplay itself. The RCB skipper was dismissed by Avesh Khan while Ishant Sharma got the better of Padikkal. Glenn Maxwell scored 25 runs off 20 balls.

Batting at number 3, Rajat Patidar stayed at the other end and shared a crucial 54 run stand with De Villiers for the 4th wicket. Patidar hit 31 runs off 22 deliveries before getting out in the 15th over.

It was an AB De Villiers show from there on as he delivered another masterclass in the last five overs. The protea power hitter started cautiously scoring 28 off 22 before the start of the 16th over and then hit the accelerator to finish at 75 runs off just 42 balls. De Villiers' exhilarating shots helped RCB collect 56 runs from the final 30 deliveries and went on to put up a competitive 171/5 in the 20 overs. De Villiers smashed 3 sixes off Marcus Stoinis in the final over of RCB's innings.