Royal Challengers defeated Gujarat Lions by 144 runs at M Chinaswamy Stadium, Bangalore just a few hours ago. It was a dominating display by Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers to post a big total with power hitting by both players and just dominated the Gujarat Lions bowlers and then Royal Challengers defended the target by dismissing Gujarat Lions for 104.
Gujarat Lions won the toss and chose to field. Chris Gayle failed again in this match scoring only 6 runs off 13 balls trying to stay at the wicket and try to regain his form.. The boundary he got off Kulkarni was a glide. In the same over Chris Gayle chopped on to the wicket. In the first 4 overs RCB only scored 19 runs for 1 wicket. Gujarat Lions bowlers created pressure on Chris Gayle and he got out as he continued to disappoint with his poor batting.
Then Kohli and AB de Villiers came to the crease when the score was 19 runs for 1 wicket down. De Villiers started attacking the spinner Kaushik and Tambe right from the start by playing some excellent shots. AB De Villiers never looked afraid and just smashed the bowlers to all parts of the ground. He completed his half century balls while Kohli was taking singles and giving him strike. After completing his half century he looked in punishing mood and completed his century in 43 balls. Kohli who was on 51 at the end of 16th over just took off 100 in 53 balls. Both of them put on a record 229 runs in 98 balls. It was a brilliant batting display by two of best batsmen in the world at the present just trashing Gujarat Lions bowlers to all parts of the ground. No Gujarat Lions was able to control the flow of runs which led to run riot.
At the end of 15th over RCB were 136 runs for the loss of 1 wicket. After the break both De Villiers and Kohli trashed the Gujarat Lions bowlers to all parts of the ground trashing 112 runs in the last 5 overs out of which 60 were in the last 2 overs. In the 16th over AB De Villiers took 22 runs in the over off Praveen Kumar. AB De Villiers’ extraordinary shots which put pressure on Gujarat Lions bowlers. and they duly crumbled In the 19th Virat Kohli smashed 30 runs and in the last over he hit a six to complete his third century before being dismissed for 109. AB De Villiers remained not out on 129 which helped RCB to post a big total of 248 runs.
Chasing a mammoth target of 249 runs, Gujarat Lions needed an explosive start from Brendon Mcullum and Dwayne Smith. They could not provide the perfect start to the team as they lost Dwayne Smith in the 2nd over itself to put pressure on Gujarat Lions batting line up. The likes of Mcullum, Bravo, Karthik could not get the contribution the team wanted. The top scorer for Gujarat Lions was Aaron Finch who scored 37. Gujarat Lions were dismissed for 104 and lost the match by a big margin of 144 runs.
The Royal Challengers bowlers have been leaking runs in this tournament so far. But today it was different. With such a big total on the cards, the Royal Challengers bowlers came to the party especially Jordan and Chahal. Jordan picked the wickets of Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik and the tail enders Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni. While Chahal bowled with great control and picked wickets of Brendon Mcullum, Bravo and Nath. Both of them picked 7 wickets giving away only 30 runs which is exceptional on a pitch where Gujarat Lions bowlers were smashed all over the park.