It was match where Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had revenge on their mind. RCB who lost to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their first match in Bangalore avenged it by winning the match by 46 runs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Monday.
The win also cleared Bangalore has proved that they have one of the most well balanced sides in the Indian Premier League and cleared the notion that they are not over dependent on Chris Gayle. There were some good performances as well as some bad.
Here are some the performances from the match which shaped the course of the match:
Hits and flops of RCB
Hits:
Tillakaratne Dilshan: He has not been a regular feature in the side this season, and was playing in his second match of the tournament. It did not take him time to come out of his shell and scored a blistering 76 of 58 deliveries which included 10 fours and a six. He opened the innings and played throughout and also stitched a partnership of 122 in just 50 deliveries with AB de Villiers.
AB de Villiers: His smile can kill and so does his willow. Bangalore reeling at 67 for three in 11.4 raced to 189 for three in 20 overs. And it was largely responsible due to this man. He scored 59 runs off 23 balls at a strike rate of 256.62 and in doing so he became the second fastest player to reach half century mark. His knock comprised of three fours and five towering sixes.
KP Appanna: Well Appanna was an unlikely hero of the match. No one expected this lad to be so influential in the match. But then he bowled with determination, his line was precise and varied his pace exceptionally well. He took four wickets for 19 runs and is looking like the next big thing in IPL.
Flops:
Virat Kohli: Kohli who is going through a rough phase in this year’s IPL was promoted to open the innings for RCB, but that moved failed too as he could score only 16 runs from as many balls.
Hits and flop of RR
Hits:
Rahul Dravid: Rahul Dravid was seen in a total different avatar in the match against the RCB. He played with aggression and was leading the chase. He scored a valiant half century but that was not enough to help his team’s cause. He scored 58 of 42 deliveries and his innings was laced with eight boundaries
Flops:
Bowling department: After Chris Gayle departed in the 11.4 overs leaving the scorecard reading 67-3, it looked like RR would take on the control of the match. But then instead getting on top of RCB they were taken to the cleaners by de Villiers and Dilshan. They leaked runs and let RCB score 122 runs of the last 8.2 overs.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
