In a Nutshell
With rain being forecast for the night, it was a crucial toss that we lost. The Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and put us in to bat. The DD batsmen struggled in the start, but Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant both registered fifties and combined to get us to a fighting total – 174/5.
With that total on the board, we were in with a chance. But, AB de Villiers took that away. It was high time a person of de Villiers’ calibre produced a match-winning knock for RCB in this year’s VIVO IPL. It was unfortunate that it came against us.
The Pant & Iyer Show
The openers, Jason Roy and Gautam Gambhir got off to a cautious start with just 11 runs coming off the first four overs. Roy struggled throughout Chahal’s spell in the powerplay and was dismissed for 5 after having played 16 deliveries. Barring Shreyas Iyer, the batsmen struggled in the powerplay and we could only manage 28 runs.
The Pant-Iyer partnership provided some much-needed impetus. Overs 5 through 10 yielded 47 runs as the pair got going. Shreyas Iyer brought up a commendable 29-ball fifty in style with two consecutive sixes off Washington Sundar. He walked back to the dressing room a couple balls later, after an uncharacteristic dismissal. He’d done what was asked of him though – bring us back into a respectable position.
At the second strategic time-out, we were 105/4 in 15.3 overs. The platform was set for Pant to launch, and launch he did! Rishabh Pant has been our most consistent batsman so far. This night was no different as he brought up a scintillating fifty. The two young guns, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant got us into the game with a chance. Pant’s timing was impeccable and so was his choice of shots.
When he got out in the final over for a brilliant 85, he walked off to well-deserved applause from the opposition skipper, Virat Kohli, and the rest of the squad. At one point, a score of 150 looked difficult. Pant’s blitzkrieg brought almost 70 runs in the last 4.3 overs and propelled us to a fighting 174/5 from our quota of 20 overs.
The ABD of T20 Batting
Gautam Gambhir does make some surprising moves as captain. He brought Glenn Maxwell on to bowl the second over, and he rewarded his skipper with the wicket of Manan Vohra. RCB gifted us the wicket of Quinton de Kock as a terrible mix-up with the skipper cost him. Despite the jitters, RCB got off to a good start in the powerplay with 43/2.
There was a flurry of boundaries off AB de Villiers’ bat as the next two overs yielded 23 runs. At the end of the 11th over, Trent Boult pulled one out of thin air to send the dangerous Virat Kohli back to the pavilion for 30. Catch of the season so far, without a doubt!
AB de Villiers brought up a spectacular fifty off just 24 balls. It was a half-century laced with some absolutely breathtaking shots. The onslaught didn’t stop after the fifty, though. His innings took the game away from our grasp. The required run rate just kept diminishing as de Villiers’ landed his blows. In the end, de Villiers finished with an unbeaten 90 off 39 balls and RCB got home with 2 overs to spare.
Brief Scores: DD 174/5 in 20 overs (Rishabh Pant 85 off 48, Shreyas Iyer 52 off 31, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/22, Corey Anderson 1/10); RCB 176/4 in 18 overs (AB de Villiers 90* off 39, Virat Kohli 30 off 26, Glenn Maxwell 1/13, Trent Boult 1/33)
