AB de Villiers was the wreck-in-chief for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowlers were caught off guard with his onslaught and ended up conceding 83 runs in the last five overs. And then, once 194 runs were on the board, the bowlers did a phenomenal job as the spinners Sundar and Chahal were stand out restricting the top KKR batsmen and winning the game by 82 runs.
Earlier, De Villiers came out all guns blazing as RCB skipper, Virat Kohli decided to bat first aiming to post a big total on the board. ABD took on the KKR bowling attack in the last five overs to leave the opposition stunned and he also outscored during the unbeaten 100-run partnership. After getting his eyes in, De Villiers literally smacked almost every bowler who bowled at him.
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There was no respite even for the likes of Pat Cummins and Andre Russell as he ABD smashed five fours and six huge maximums. Kohli played an unbeaten on 33 off 28 balls as RCB finished on 194 runs for the loss of two wickets in 20 overs. Apart from Varun Chakravarthy (0/25) none of the KKR bowlers could keep a lid on the run-scoring.
Chasing 194 on a pitch expected to get slower was a daunting task for KKR and they needed their openers, Tom Banton and Shubman Gill to fire, the RCb bowling attack never put their foot away from the gas. Navdeep Saini castled the former in the fourth over and since then, there was no momentum to the innings at all.
All the batsmen just came and went even as RCB’s versatile bowling attack barred them from getting back into the game. If the pacers were brilliant, RCB’s spin duo of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal were beyond exceptional bowling to some of the explosive KKR batsmen. They conceded only 32 runs in their 8 overs together and dismantled the middle-order of the opposition sending back Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan, and Dinesh Karthik.
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In the middle over, KKR went down from being 51/1 to 64/5 in 3.1 overs. Andre Russell was the last hope even as the required run-rate went beyond 14 as Isuru Udana dismissed him in the 14th over to end the contest right there. KKR could eventually reach only 112 runs after playing 20 overs as RCB registered a huge win by 82 runs to improve their net run-rate.
Hits
Washington Sundar
Washington Sundar gave just 20 in his spell of four over despite bowling in the crucial juncture. He also got the wickets of Eoin Morgan and Nitish Rana.
AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers smashed his 36th IPL half-century to help his team to reach the total of 194/2 in 20 overs. Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 13th over, De Villiers was looking to up the ante from the word go whilst playing at a stadium like Sharjah. Having scored 73* (33) with the help of five fours and six sixes, de Villiers played a major role in RCB to amass as many as 83 runs in the last five overs.
Flops
Kamlesh Nagarkoti
It’s been the second consecutive game when Kamlesh Nagarkoti has conceded a lot of runs. KKR will be suffering consistent losses if Nagarkoti doesn’t get back his form.
Pat Cummins
After bowling match-winning spells against RR and SRH, Pat Cummins has been fairly inconsistent for KKR. In order for Knight Riders have a chance to reach the playoffs, Cummins needs to be more consistent.
