Royal Challengers Bangalore are back on the winning track as they defeated Pune Warriors India for the second time in this edition of Indian Premier League. AB De Villiers played some astonishing shots in his knock of 50 runs off 23 balls. Moises Henriques and de Villiers smashed 68 runs in last five overs and took RCB to a mammoth total of 187 runs. Vinay Kumar also did well a she chipped in with three crucial wickets and restricted PWI to a total of 170. Robin Uthappa was the silver lining for Pune Warriors as he scored 75 runs off 435 balls.
Here we bring to you the hits and flops from the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Pune Warriors India (PWI).
HITS
AB De Villiers: De Villiers played a mind-boggling knock of 50 runs of just 23 balls. He went absolutely bizarre and was hitting fours and sixes in all directions. He was smacking Yorkers over mid-wicket or over third-man which made Dinda look frustrated. His explosive knock ensured that RCB put up a good total of 188 on the board.
Robin Uthappa: Uthappa got his first fifty of the IPL-6 and played a scintillating knock of 75 runs. Pune started off slowly as they were losing wickets in initial overs but he kept his nerves and was rotating the strikes. After the 10th over, he unleashed himself on RCB and started scoring boundaries in every over. He scored five sixes and five fours in his innings of 75 runs off just 45 balls.
Saurabh Tiwary: Tiwary came out to open and played well to get his maiden fifty of this edition of IPL. He was holding the one end and allowed other batsmen to free their arms. He went on to score 52 off 45 balls and scored two sixes and as much fours.
Angelo Mathews: Mathews batted brilliantly and brought his side closer to that much needed victory. He scored 32 runs off 19 balls that he faced and hit three huge sixes which made this contest look like an exciting thriller.
Moises Henriques: Henriques did his job really well with the bat and smashed Pune bowlers for 27 runs off 13 balls that he faced. He kept scoring boundaries in the last five overs to increase the scoring rate. He smashed four fours and one six in his cameo.
Vinay Kumar: Kumar bowled quite well against Pune as he ended up picking up the three important wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Steve Smith and Angelo Mathews. He ended his four overs with the figures of 3/31.
Murali Kartik: Kartik gave the most important breakthrough in form of Robin Uthappa who was looking to steal this match from RCB. Kartik got two wickets in his final over and he ended his spell with 2/29.
FLOPS
Ashok Dinda: Dinda was hit all over the park as he gave away 26 runs in his final over. De Villiers played almost all the impossible shots and smashed his Yorkers for fours and sixes. He couldn’t have done much against him as De Villiers was looking to devastate almost every ball. He was introduced in the attack after 12th over of the innings which turned out to be a bad decision.
Muttiah Muralitharan: Muralitharan was expensive as he gave away 21 runs in his third over and ended up with the figures of 0/32 in three overs. He bowled well in the first two overs but Uthappa and Mathews hit him for three sixes in his third over which disturbed his stats.
Rahul Sharma: Sharma went wicket less once again and ended up with the figures of 0/36. His inability to pick up wickets has been one of the causes of Pune’s defeat in almost every match. He needs to put up a brilliant show with the ball in remaining matches.
Steve Smith: Steve Smith didn’t deliver with the bat as he gave away his wicket to Vinay Kumar after scoring just four runs. His presence could have changed the complexion of the game but he went early.
Yuvraj Singh: Yuvraj again failed to convert a decent start into a big one as he departed after scoring 16 runs. He cracked two sixes and was looking in good touch but he got out while he was trying to fancy his chances against Vinay Kumar.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network
