IPL 2016 Qualifier 1: Five turning points of RCB vs Gujarat Lions

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Gujarat Lions by 4 wickets at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore just a few minutes ago. It was a low scoring match with Gujarat Lions scoring 158 runs. RCB was struggling with their batting but AB De Villiers played a special knock guiding RCB to a famous win to book a spot in the finals.

1. Gujarat Lions rocked by early three wickets

After winning the toss, Royal Challengers Bangalore invited Gujarat Lions to bat. In the 2^nd over itself Iqbal Abdulla picked the dangerous Brendon Mcullum. Aaron Finch was the next batsmen to be dismissed in the same over by Iqbal Abdulla for 4. Gujarat Lions got into more trouble as their captain Suresh Raina was dismissed for 1. By the fourth over, Gujarat Lions was struggling as the scoreboard read 9 for 3.

2. Dwayne Smith the only batsmen to provide resistance

Dwayne Smith came to the crease at the score of 9 for 3 in the 4^th over. Smith took few balls to settle down and adjust to the pace and bounce of the pitch. Dwayne hit 2 boundaries of Abdulla’s bowling in the 5^th over. He looked in great touch after facing few balls. At the end of first strategic time out, Dwayne Smith attacked the bowlers especially Chahal and Abdulla. He stitched an important partnership with Dinesh Karthik of 83 runs. Smith completed his half century of 31 balls. As Smith was looking dangerous to help Gujarat Lions to post a competitive total he was caught for well-made 73 off 41 balls .

3. Shane Watson’s brilliant spell

Shane Watson was the pick of bowlers for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He took the wicket of Suresh Raina in his first over itself. In the 16^th over Watson picked an important wicket of Ravindra Jadeja. In his last over, Dwidei hit Watson for 2 successive sixes in a row. Watson came back well to pick 2 wickets in 2 balls. He bowled with control and did not allow batsmen to hit big strokes. He bowled full quota of 4 overs in which he gave away 29 runs picking 4 wickets. He is now the purple cap holder after today brilliant performance.

4. Dhawal Kulkarni ripped apart the top order of RCB

Chasing a target of 159, Royal Challengers suffered a big blow in the second over as the inform batsmen Virat Kohli was dismissed by Dhawal Kulkarni. They lost 2 more big wickets of Chris Gayle and KL Rahul in 2 successive balls to put RCB under pressure at 25 for 3 in 4^th over. They suffered another blow in the 5^th over as Shane Watson was dismissed by Jadeja to leave RCB in big trouble at 28 for 4 and also lost Sachin Baby to leave RCB in tatters at 31 for 5 in 6 overs. Dhawal Kulkarni picked four out of the five wickets to fall. He finished with figures of 4 for 14 in his allotted 4 overs.

5. AB De Villiers’ special knock

AB De Villiers came to the crease when the score was 17 for 1. AB De Villiers hit the first scoring shot for a six. Royal Challengers Bangalore was struggling at 31 for 5 as Chris Gayle, Rahul, Watson and Sachin Baby all went in quick succession. De Villiers played some wonderful strokes of Jadeja. Royal Challengers lost their sixth wicket at the score of 65. After that De Villiers took the charge and played wonderful strokes. He completed his half century 33 balls and continued plunder the Gujarat Lions by remaining not out on 78. Iqbal Abdulla contributed with bat scoring 33 vital runs.  Both of them shared 94 runs for the seventh wicket guiding RCB to the finals.