The Royal Challengers Bangalore [RCB] flexed their muscles on Monday to blow away Kolkata Knight Riders [KKR] away by 82 runs in what was a clinical all-round performance by the Virat Kohli-led outfit in Sharjah.
Chasing 195, Kolkata Knight Riders did not get off to the best of starts as debutant Tom Banton lost his off-pole for a 12-ball 8 courtesy a brilliant delivery by Navdeep Saini.
Shubman Gill took the attack to Mohammad Siraj in the fifth over by smashing him for two fours and a six but the introduction of the spin duo of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal proceeded to put complete breaks on the scoring.
As a result, wickets continued to tumble in a heap as Sundar knocked over Nitish Rana [9 off 14 balls] and Eoin Morgan [8 off 12 balls] while Shubman Gill was run-out due to a horrible miscommunication between him and Morgan.
Dinesh Karthik also fell cheaply after Yuzvendra Chahal knocked him over for 1 as KKR slipped from 1-51 to 5-64 within a space of 3.1 overs.
Andre Russell took the attack to Isuru Udana post the time-out by smoking him for 4,64, but Udana had the last laugh as he induced Dre Russ into a mistimed stroke towards the off-side; one that was easily gobbled by Mohammad Siraj to effectively kill the run-chase.
Pat Cummins and Rahul Tripathi tried to hit a few lusty blows to bring down the margin of defeat but it was that sort of a day where every lofted shot found an RCB fielder under it. Ultimately, KKR ended up with 9-112; 82 runs adrift of the target.
AB de Villiers masterclass propelled RCB to 194 vs KKR
Earlier, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batted first and on the back of a 67-run opening stand between Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal and AB de Villiers whirlwind 23-ball 50, posted 2-194 in 20 overs.
Finch looked in great touch during his 37-ball 47. The right-hander stitched a 67-run opening stand and along with Devdutt Padikkal gave his team a platform to launch from.
RCB slowed down considerably in the middle-overs but AB de Villiers (73* off 33 balls) once again displayed why he is such a beast when he gets going. On what was not a typical Sharjah track, ABD displayed his class to the hilt by inflicting a whirlwind assault on KKR’s fast bowlers ensured that the Challengers racked up 83 runs in the last five to post 194.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to RCB’s win against KKR-
Convincing victory by @RCBTweets was #ABDevilliers playing on a different pitch? #WashingtonSundar #chrismorris
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 12, 2020
Chris Morris:
vs #CSK — 4-0-19-3
vs #KKR — 4-0-17-2#RCBvKKR #IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/WgensO4lxp— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) October 12, 2020
This is a massive win for #PlayBold Improves their NRR. 5 wins at halfway stage. Three more will see them through…and with this team, they should manage more than just three out of 7. #IPL2020 #RCBvKKR
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 12, 2020
The moment @ABdeVilliers17 was good to keep wickets, the team’s balance was transformed. That is the biggest factor in this turnaround. #RCB
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 12, 2020
Yuzvendra Chahal 4 overs 13 dot balls 12 runs & big wicket of Dinesh Karthik
Washington Sundar 4 overs 8 dot balls 20 runs & wickets of Nitish Rana & Eoin Morgan
Spinners: 8-0-32-3 with 21 dot balls
What a stellar performance #RCBvsKKR #KKRvsRCB
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang) October 12, 2020
Sundar spell by Washington. #RCBvsKKR
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) October 12, 2020
Rcb..Rcb..Rcb on Fire ? ?? happy for this passionate man skipper himself @imVkohli @ABdeVilliers17 @yuzi_chahal @Sundarwashi5 @RCBTweets ????? @IPL
— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3) October 12, 2020
For all you @RCBTweets fans…..This was the kind of day you were waiting for. Complete performance. Many layers, many performers, excellent balance, tactics perfect and a genius in full flow.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 12, 2020
Fascinating this, for Tom Banton. Dominated at a small ground in the Blast; now here’s a chance at a small ground in Sharjah, but against a top class attack. This is the next challenge, for a wonderful young batsman. #IPL2020 #RCBvKKR
— Ben Jones (@benjonescricket) October 12, 2020
Said it before and saying it again helmets ⛑ or head protection for Bowlers, especially fast bowlers, about time .. #IPL2020 #RCBvsKKR
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) October 12, 2020
#RCB have read the conditions perfectly and their spinners, outstanding throughout the tournament, are on fire. I will repeat, this is the best balanced RCB team for a long time
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 12, 2020
Genius. Find me another word for @ABdeVilliers17. This one will do for now! Genius.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 12, 2020
Kohli-ABD become the first pair to share 10 century partnerships in IPL.
Most century pships in IPL:
10 KOHLI-ABD
9 Kohli-Gayle
6 Dhawan-Warner
5 Bairstow-Warner
5 Gambhir-Uthappa#IPL2020 #RCBvsKKR— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) October 12, 2020
Best shot in today’s match Abde Villiers!!???♥️#ABDevilliers #RCBvKKR pic.twitter.com/Papt0jufxX
— VIRAT KOHLI TRENDS (@Trendvirat18) October 12, 2020
He is in different leauge AB Devilier @ABdeVilliers17 .. #legend @RCBTweets vs @KKRiders @IPL
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 12, 2020
2 balls went out of ground ??#ABDevilliers ❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/YBM7tRJYeb
— Mahesh Sam Fan (@AbhinavKarthik_) October 12, 2020
#ABDevilliers be like : pic.twitter.com/0H2wcPfuwD
— Aman Rai (@AmanRai28) October 12, 2020
And mr 360 !!!lights up the Sharjah stadium ! On his day it’s a different ball game ! Amazing to watch @ABdeVilliers17 . If @imVkohli starts going we can see 190 200 on board ! Game on !!! #RCBvKKR #IPL2020
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) October 12, 2020
Kolkata have been very impressive with their young bowlers against the top 3 batters in white-ball cricket. To suffocate the likes of Virat, AB and Finch you require certain kind of nous and @KKRiders bowlers have shown that in plenty #RCBvsKKR @RCBTweets
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 12, 2020
Will be very interested in seeing how #KKR manage their bowling resources. I am assuming that Russell is good to bowl all 4 overs because they could be a bowler short
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 12, 2020