In an enticing contest at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday night, the pendulum swung to and from before hosts prevailed. With this, they won three games in a row while beating visitors by 17 runs. Thanks to AB de Villiers’ all-round show on the field apart from Umesh Yadav’s brilliance with the ball.
However, the Windies World Cup-bound Nicholas Pooran 46 (28) tried his best, but hosts bowlers bowled their heart out despite Dale Steyn warming the bench.
The hosts restricted guests on 185 for seven in 20 overs. Umesh bagged three wickets, whereas, Navdeep Saini claimed two scalps. Moeen Ali and Marcus Stoinis picked wicket apiece.
Turning Point:
The go-slow approach from David Miller has somewhat affected the visitors.
2nd Innings – KXI
In the run-chase, the visitors relied on a cautious start from Lokesh Rahul and Chris Gayle. The opening pair struck 42 in 3.2 overs before de Villiers caught explosive batsman Gayle inches inside the boundary ropes. For RCB, Umesh Yadav provided the breakthrough when Rahul and Gayle looked in good touch.
Gayle returned to the pavilion after scoring 10-ball 23.
However, Rahul batted sensibly and showed some grit to stitch 59-run partnership for the second wicket. Mayank Agarwal lost his wicket when Yuzvendra Chahal took a simple catch on the bowling of Umesh.
Interestingly, on the first ball of 11th over delivered by Moeen Ali, Rahul went for a big shot when Stoinis adjusted himself to take a clean catch in the deep.
At one stage, the visitors were 105 for one in 10 overs.
Toss:
KXIP won the toss and opted to bowl first on a placid-look surface at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
1st Innings – RCB
Hosts had a brisk start when wicketkeeper-batsman looked Parthiv Patel looked altogether a different batsman. He helped his side to race to 35 in 3 overs. However, Mohammed Shami bagged a prized scalp of RCB skipper Virat Kohli. The top-order batsman scored 13 off eight balls before Mandeep Singh completed a dolly.
For the second wicket, Patel added 36 runs alongside AB de Villiers. Patel was caught by skipper Ravichandran Ashwin on the bowling of namesake Murugan Ashwin. Patel slammed 24-ball 43. His innings was laced with seven fours and two sixes.
Moeen Ali, who has been in some form, was cleaned up by R Ashwin. He managed to score four off five balls. Akshdeep Nath couldn’t do much as he was caught by Mandeep on the bowling of Hardus Viljoen
On the other side, de Villiers played a remarkable role by smashing yet another IPL fifty. Apart from hitting the towering six that landed on the roof-top of the stadium, de Villiers clobbered six sixes.
At one stage, the hosts looked to score around 170, but de Villiers alongside Marcus Stoinis have thrashed apart KXIP’s bowlers. In the 20th over, Viljoen conceded 27 runs which subsequently saw the home team post 202 for four on board.
Stoinis played some big shots to propel RCB to 200-plus. Photo Credit: BCCI/IPL.
For the fourth wicket, de Villiers alongside Stoinis forged a 121-run partnership. De Villiers scored whirlwind 82* off just 44 balls. Besides Stoinis faced 34 balls for his unbeaten 46.
Shami, who conceded 51 runs off four overs bagged a wicket each alongside Viljoen, R Ashwin, Murugan Ashwin. But Ankit Rajpoot remained wicketless, who gave away 46 runs off 24 balls. He remained wicketless, who gave away 46 runs off 24 balls.
