Kings XI Punjab [KXIP] finally broke their five-match losing streak as they consigned the Royal Challengers Bangalore [RCB] to their third defeat of the tournament- second against KXIP- courtesy a batting masterclass by KL Rahul and Chris Gayle
Chasing 172, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal once again gave a smashing start to their side by taking the attack to RCB bowlers, ensuring that they racked up 56 runs in the powerplay.
Mayank Agarwal was once again the aggressor among two as the stylish opener smacked both spinners-Yuzvendra Chahal- as well as fast bowlers with textbook cricketing shots during the powerplay.
Agarwal attacked Chahal once again post the powerplay, taking the spinner downtown for a brilliant six. But, Chahal, as it often happens, had the last laugh as he once again tossed the ball up. Mayank, in an attempt to slog Chahal across the line, failed to connect and was castled.
Post Mayank’s dismissal, RCB’s spinners- Chahal and Washington Sundar- tightened the screws on the duo of Rahul and Chris Gayle. Just 10 runs came off the next three overs, with Gayle managing six runs in his first 14 balls.
KL Rahul finally broke the shackles as he launched Mohammad Siraj for two monstrous sixes in the 12th over to bring up the teams’ hundred. Gayle too joined the party with two sixes off Sundar in the next over to drive the momentum back in KXIP’s run-chase.
Gayle survived an LBW scare in the very next over courtesy of an inside edge on a brute of a yorker by Chris Morris, one that hit his back leg. Gayle took DRS, forcing the on-field decision to get overturned.
And, Gayle made full use of the reprieve as he smoked Siraj for a six and four in the 16th over before Rahul smashed the fast bowler for another six to bring the equations down to 26 in 24 balls. The ‘Universe Boss’ then proceeded to smoke Sundar for two more sixes before he brought up his 29th IPL fifty with a single, to effectively kill the run-chase. Just nine runs came in the next two overs and when Gayle was dismissed by Chahal on the penultimate delivery, KXIP still needed 1 run to seal the victory off the last ball.
Nicholas Pooran, however, ensured that for once KXIP didn’t the bottle the winning position as he smashed Chahal for a six to seal the 2nd win of the tournament for his side.
Chris Morris and Isuru Udana late blitz propelled RCB to 170 against KXIP
Batting first, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), got off to good start despite losing both of their openers in Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch as they racked up 57 runs in the first powerplay.
Devdutt Padikkal was undone by a slower delivery by Arshdeep Singh while Aaron Finch, who looked all at sea against the leggie, was knocked over by a brute of delivery by Murugan Ashwin.
Skipper Virat Kohli came all guns blazing, smashing 21 runs in his first 13 balls, which included three boundaries. RCB played a punt by promoting Washington Sundar ahead of AB de Villiers following the dismissal of Finch.
Sundar managed just 8 runs in his first 10 balls as he struggled to get the ball away against KXIP spinners as RCB managed just 26 runs in the next four overs. Sundar eventually perished to the wily Murugan Ashwin thanks to mistimed hoike on the on-side. And, just when you thought that Sundar’s experiment was unnecessary, the RCB think-tank came up with another rejig to the batting-order by sending Shivam Dube ahead of Kohli.
And, just like the Sundar experiment, Dube’s experiment didn’t work either as he scrapped his way to 8 in his first 12 balls. Kohli himself slowed down during the middle-overs, as RCB managed just 20 runs between overs 10-14.
Shivam Dube finally upped the ante after the Time-Out as he smoked Murugan Ashwin for two disdainful sixes in the 15th over. Chris Jordan, after two nightmarish outings, looked in his elements against RCB and was eventually rewarded with the wicket of Shivam Dube courtesy a short delivery.
AB de Villiers finally arrived at the crease in the 17th over but it proved to be a short stay for ‘Mr 360’ as he top-edged Shami to extra-over for a 5-ball 2.
Virat Kohli followed in the same Shami over as the Indian skipper was found guilty of being early in the pull stroke that never arrived, only for KL Rahul to complete a diving catch.
Chris Morris and Isuru Udana stroked some lusty blows in the last two overs (4 sixes and a four) to ensure that RCB finished on a high- 6-171 in 20 overs.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to KXIP’s win over RCB:
Average #IPL fan’s heart rate:
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\/⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ \/Average #KXIP fan’s heart rate:
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/ \ /\/ \ /\_/ \ /\_#SaddaPunjab #RCBvKXIP #IPL2020— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) October 15, 2020
Hitting six off the last ball to win in IPL
Rohit Sharma v KKR 2009
Rohit Sharma v PWI 2011
J Franklin v KKR 2011
Rohit Sharma v DC 2012
Saurabh Tiwary v PWI 2012
Dwayne Bravo v KKR 2012
MS Dhoni v KXIP 2016
M Santner v RR 2019
N Pooran v RCB 2020 *#RCBvKXIP— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) October 15, 2020
Lovely to see the great player turning the clock back. Well played @henrygayle and @klrahul11 batting through. After the RCB batting order experiment @lionsdenkxip deserved to win this. RCB can’t make their best batter wait. AB should have been in at 4.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 15, 2020
Universe Boss is back. And #KXIP has bossed this game. Two wins in #IPL2020 thus far. And both against #PlayBold #RCBvKXIP
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 15, 2020
Stand. And. Deliver.
Cricket cliché to beat them all.
Except when it stands for Chris Gayle’s delivery.
Thanks for a glimpse of what was, Boss.#IPL2020 #KXIPvRCB
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) October 15, 2020
KL Rahul! Man oh man!
Great to see the universe boss back too.
Tactics?#champion #ipl #RCBvKXIP— Mpumelelo Mbangwa (@mmbangwa) October 15, 2020
Siraj coming back to his formpic.twitter.com/esg793C43i
— Praneeth (@153_Centurion) October 15, 2020
Not good tactics by RCB in this match. Didn’t expose the great ABD at the right time when batting, didn’t shield vulnerable Siraj in the bowling
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 15, 2020
Just a few bad matches and people forgot who Siraj Is. Vintage Siraj is back ?
— R A T N I $ H (@LoyalSachinFan) October 15, 2020
Was Siraj not meant to bowl this over? Some animated chat between Udana, Siraj and MS. Or some bowling plan gone wrong.
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) October 15, 2020
Match-ups can get funny sometimes. Sundar, a star of the Powetplays, was kept back to counter Gayle. And after having beeb hit for only one six so far this IPL far, he concedes two in one over ti Gayle and gets taken off.
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) October 15, 2020
If the universe boss @henrygayle middles the ball it will land in abu dabhi from Sharjah ?! @klrahul11 and @mayankcricket great start to the chase ! Hopefully these guys should finish the game ! Surprised to see @ABdeVilliers17 coming to bat so late ! #RCBvKXIP #IPL2020
— Yuvraj Singh (@YUVSTRONG12) October 15, 2020
KL Rahul’s skills are enviable. Class. ?♂️ #IPL2020
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 15, 2020
4500 runs in the IPL for the Universe Boss #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/RkwWnMlIyP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 15, 2020
Gayle. Has. Arrived?
Two biggies from the big man. RT if you loved it ?#SaddaPunjab #IPL2020 #KXIP #RCBvKXIP
— Kings XI Punjab (@lionsdenkxip) October 15, 2020
When you play against #KXIP the game starts after they lose their first wicket #KXIPvRCB #IPL2020
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) October 15, 2020
Chris Gayle is appearing in his 405th match and 397th inns in T20 cricket…
His batting positions
#1/2: 388 (97.73%)
#3: 6* (1.52%) – tonight!
#4: 1 (0.25%)
#5: 1 (0.25%)
#7: 1 (0.25%)#IPL2020#RCBvsKXIP#KXIPvRCB#IPL#Dream11IPL— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 15, 2020
Chris Gayle against off spin last three IPL seasons:
74 runs
82 balls
3 wickets#IPL2020 #RCBvKXIP— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) October 15, 2020
Tonight,
– AB de Villers went in at #6 for the only 7th time (2.33%) out of the 300 inns he batted in his T20 career, while
– Chris Gayle now coming in at #3 just for 6th time (1.52%) out of his 397 T20 inns! #IPL2020#RCBvsKXIP#KXIPvRCB#IPL#Dream11IPL#IPLinUAE— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 15, 2020
#KXIP ‘should’ win this one. But then…..you know what I mean ? #IPL2020
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 15, 2020
If it was the match-up of AB vs leg spin that caused him to come down at no 6, then Murugan Ashwin and Ravi Bishnoi must strut around for the rest of their cricket career, tell their relatives we were the reason the great AB didn’t come out to bat!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 15, 2020
I am still trying to figure out why Sundar is batting at No. 4
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) October 15, 2020
#RCB have scored at 6.9rpo in the middle overs this season, the slowest of any side. Just 8.5% of their balls in that phase have been hit for boundaries – the lowest figure for any side. #IPL2020 #RCBvKXIP
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) October 15, 2020
I was alive when I saw a captain sent batsman like Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube ahead than AB De Villiers. Legendary captain Kohli.
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) October 15, 2020
What was Kohli signaling there? He wants Morris or AB or someone else to come in next? That should only mean Dube has to swing at everything
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) October 15, 2020
AB de Villiers batting at No. 6 in IPL:
2009
2012
2014
2020Only 3 times before, last in 2014. #IPL2020 #RCBvsKXIP
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) October 15, 2020
Between Shami and the RCB dugout, it’s a tough one as to who deserves more credit for the AB de Villiers wicket today. #RCBvKXIP #IPL2020
— Raunak Kapoor (@RaunakRK) October 15, 2020
Ok , wonder what was the plan here for #RCB ? #CricitwithBadri #IPL2020 #RCBvsKXIP
— S.Badrinath (@s_badrinath) October 15, 2020
Just the sight of Gayle in the playing XI has knocked RCB out.
Now imagine what it will do to KXIP when he goes out to bat#ipl2020 #rcbvkxip
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) October 15, 2020
#RCB’s batting strategy has boomeranged. De Villiers and Kohli fall in the same over and even 150 beginning to look difficult from here
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 15, 2020
This is where @lionsdenkxip Punjab’s problems generally begin. The last 5 overs #RCBvsKXIP
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 15, 2020
Has #ABDevilliers been kidnapped? Crazy tactics not to send him above Sundar and Dube. #RCBvKXIP #IPL2020 @vikrantgupta73
— Bhavik Kapadia (@BhavikK11) October 15, 2020
Dube gotta go….Boom or Bust. It’s time for ABDV to arrive. #RCBvKXIP #IPL2020
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 15, 2020
Only thrice AB de Villiers has batted at #6 (or below) in IPL
6(6) DD v MI Centurion 2009
33(14)* RCB v PWI Bengaluru 2012
10(6) RCB v CSK Bengaluru 2014#RCBvKXIP #IPL2020— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) October 15, 2020
Wow. Three days after AB de Villiers hits 73* off 33 balls, and looks like he is a batsman from another planet, RCB opt to hold him back. I would be happy delaying the next wicket if I was in the Kings XI camp. #IPL2020
— Richard Gibson (@richardgibsonDM) October 15, 2020
This is only the second time in his T20 career that Washington Sundar has batted at No.4. #IPL2020 #RCBvKXIP
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) October 15, 2020
All along, Punjab was looking for Glenn Maxwell the batsman, overlooking Glenn Maxwell the bowler.#IPL2020 #KXIPvRCB
— Gaurav Sethi (@BoredCricket) October 15, 2020
AB de Villiers vs leg spin in IPL since 2018
21 inngs
170 balls
Eight dismissals
SR 129.4It is the most De Villiers got out to a bowling style in this period.
Sundar promotion gives RCB a favourable matchup against two leg spinners and shields AB from them.#RCBvKXIP
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) October 15, 2020
If ever a team was picked to chase down a big score, it is this @lionsdenkxip team. Gayle, Rahul, Mayank, Pooran, Maxwell, Hooda! But this rejuvenated @RCBTweets side might just put too many on the board. Two excellent batting sides on display.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 15, 2020