IPL 2018, Match 8, RCB v KXIP: Royal Challengers Bangalore Open Their Account in Style
Nov 23, 2018 at 2:49 PM
It was a good all-round performance by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their second match of the tournament against the Kings XI Punjab at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Courtesy a sublime knock from the blade of AB de Villiers, RCB chased down the total of 156 in the final over of the match – to open their account.
Earlier in the day, it was some terrific bowling by the RCB bowlers. The hosts bowlers restricted a star-studded Punjab side to a score of just 155 runs. Umesh Yadav was the pick of the RCB bowlers bagging three wickets for just 23 runs.
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It was home skipper Virat Kohli who won the toss and opted to field. Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul got Punjab off to a flying start. Both smashed boundaries at will as Punjab reached 30 within the first three overs.
However, Mayank was dismissed in the fourth over by Umesh Yadav. The pacer immediately dismissed Aaron Finch in the very next delivery of the innings to reduce the visitors to 32 for two.
The pacer wasn’t finished yet as he ended that over with the wicket of Yuvraj Singh.
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It was a late cameo of 33 of 21 deliveries by skipper Ravichandran Ashwin which propelled Punjab to a score of 155.
However, they failed to play out their quota of 20 overs. The visitors were bundled out within the 20th over. Umesh Yadav bagged three wickets. However, Kulwant Khejroliya, Chris Woakes, and Washington Sundar bagged a couple each.
Chasing a competitive total, Bangalore were pegged early with the dismissal of Brendon McCullum in only the second delivery of RCB’s innings. As Axar Patel bowled a short of length delivery outside the off-stump, McCullum went for an expansive slash but found out the point fielder.
Captain Virat Kohli smashed some wonderful shots to begin his innings. He struck four boundaries during his knock of 21 off 16 deliveries before being dismissed by the Afghan sensation Mujeeb-ur-Rahman. It was a sensational delivery which breached his defence and disturbed the timbers.
After a 54-run partnership between Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers, it was opposition skipper Ashwin, who provided the much-needed breakthrough.
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It was a brilliant delivery by Ashwin, as De Kock got castled. He let his leg-break get a rip in the very next delivery, as Sarfaraz Khan came out in the middle.
It was a flatter trajectory delivery, and Sarfaraz ended up giving an easy catch to the slip fielder. Ashwin was ecstatic following the dismissal.
De Villiers snatched the game away from Punjab. He smashed Mujeeb for two consecutive sixes in the 18th over. It brought the calculation down to 22 off the last three. There was some late drama with a couple of more wickets.
However, it was Washington Sundar who struck an uppish square cut of Mohit Sharma in the second delivery of the 20th over.
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Brief Scores
Kings XI Punjab 155 all-out in 19.2 overs (KL Rahul 47, Ravichandran Ashwin 33, Umesh Yadav 3/23, Kulwant Khejroliya 2/33)
Royal Challengers Bangalore 159/6 in 19.3 overs (AB de Villiers 57, Quinton de Kock 45, Ravichandran Ashwin 2/30)
Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 4 wickets (with 3 deliveries to spare)
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