Royal Challengers Bangalore took on Deccan Chargers in a must win match and their worst nightmare came true as they lost the match to the bottom placed team and crashed out of the tournament.
RCB went into the match as clear favorites and would have fancied their chances, they won the toss and interestingly chose to bowl taking into consideration the strong batting unit that they are.
The decision looked fine till the half way stage as Deccan had a sedate start, but a strong finish took Deccan to a score of 132.
RCB started their chase brilliantly and got off to a brisk start; they however suffered two big blows and panicked. RCB batsmen played some bad strokes and lost the initiative.
Let’s have a look at some of the hits and flops from both sides.
Deccan Chargers:
Hits:
JP Duminy: Duminy has been in and out of Deccan team and he was once again making a comeback. He is a very good player and was at his best against RCB. Duminy started his innings slowly and got the feel of the pitch. Once he got settled he took the attack RCB and played some tremendous shot. Duminy scored more than half of Deccan runs and his innings of 74 included five sixes and four boundaries.
Dale Steyn: Steyn has been unlucky throughout the series but he did not let that affect him. Steyn was up against dangerous Gayle who was looking to finish the match quickly. Steyn rattled Gayle with a sharp bouncer forcing him to play a bad stroke and get out. In the next over he got the wicket of Dilshan. Steyn was at his lethal best and showed why he is the world’s premier fast bowler.
Flops:
Kumar Sangakkara: The captain of the Deccan Chargers played only one good innings prior to this match and he would have been thinking of ending the tournament on a high, it didn’t happen though as he could only manage 15 runs of 22 deliveries.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Hits:
Vinay Kumar:He saved his best for the last, Vinay Kumar struggled in the entire tournament, he did pick some wickets but conceded far too many runs for that. Against Chargers Vinay got his line and length correct from the first ball and got three wickets. He only conceded 22 runs in the four overs that he bowled.
Prasanth Parameswaran: He was included in the side quite late and he bowled beautifully in the match. Parameswaran got the all important wicket of Cameron White and troubled the other batsmen with the pace and bounce. He went for only 12 runs in three overs.
Flops:
Tillakaratne Dilshan: Dilshan’s form has been very inconsistent and he once again played a poor sht t get out. After the fall of Gayle’s wicket RCB would have expected Dilshan to play a solid innings, He however, tried to slog Dale Steyn over square leg and was caught in front of the wicket.
By Gaurav Jha
Indian Sports News
