March 19, 2024

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RCB didn’t loose hope yet…

RCB didn’t loose hope yet…

Virat Kohli won the toss and invited DD to bat first. Prithvi Shaw and Jason Roy opened the innings and Yuzwendra Chahal bowled the first over. RCB started on a high with Chahal striking in the very first over. Prithvi Shaw was dismissed and Shreyas Iyer joined Jason Roy on the crease. Umesh Yadav started the second over and Roy hit him out of the park. Roy smacked him for another boundary and Umesh conceded 11 runs. Chahal was back into the attack and there were signs of some turn. Chahal struck again and clean-bowled Roy off a googly. Rishabh was the new man in. DD were being their usual self, struggling at 21/2 after 3 overs.

Spin was doing well for RCB while DD batsmen were struggling to score runs. Pant was not able to connect the ball properly throughout the 4th over which Southee bowled. Umesh Yadav returned with the 5th over and Pant made a comeback hitting 2 boundaries in the over. Southee bowled a tidy 6th over and conceded just 5 runs off it. DD were 44/2 at the end of the powerplay.

DD batsmen were playing it safe and didn’t take any risk against Moeen Ali who was introduced in the 7th over. Trying a combination of pace and spin and brought Mohammed Siraj into the attack from the other end. Pant who had had spent enough time on the crease hit Siraj for two consecutive sixes. Siraj conceded 14 runs in his over. Moeen Ali came in and batsmen looked to accelerate but couldn’t find the gaps. They could only manage 4 runs in the over. DD were 66/2 after 9 overs.

Iyer and Pant were trying hard to go for big shots but somehow apart from some lucky boundaries nothing had been coming off the middle of the bat. Grandhomme was brought in to bowl the 10th over and conceded 12 runs including a boundary. Moeen Ali began the 11th one. Pant hit him for a maximum over long-on. But, other than that nothing special happened in that over. The innings was moving at a slower pace but the batsmen had settled on the crease. Kohli needed a wicket and called Chahal back into the attack in search of a wicket. But Chahal wasn’t as successful this around and Pant started the punishment. Chahal leaked 14 runs in his over.  DD were slowly building the momentum and stood at 101/2 after 12 overs.

Moeen Ali had been bowling some tight overs throughout the innings and was rewarded with an important wicket of Rishabh Pant just before he ended his spell of four overs. Vijay Shankar was the new man in. Chahal bowled his last over and ended a wonderful spell without offering too many opportunities to the batsmen. Yadav returned from the other to bowl the 15th over. Shreyas Iyer had been there on the crease for almost throughout the innings and was scoring at just below run-a-ball. He looked to change gears and failed miserably hitting straight into the hands of the fielder. Siraj dismissed Iyer. Abhishek Sharma, the debutant, was the new man on the crease. He opened his account with a boundary and Siraj answered with bouncer. DD were 125/4 after 16 overs.

Southee returned came back to bowl his 3rd. The debutante Abhishek was playing a great role for Delhi and hit Southee for consecutive sixes. Southee who had kept DD quiet in the initial overs went for 22 runs in his over. Siraj returned and the assault continued. Abhishek hit him for a six on the first ball of the over. Shankar joined the party and went for a boundary. RCB were leaking quick runs in the death overs. Southee made a comeback and succeeded in putting some breaks on the flow of runs. He conceded just 7 runs in the 19th over. Siraj bowled the final over. Tried to much variations with length and was appropriately punished for a six and a four. DD, with the help of some death over boundaries and a fifty run partnership between Abhishek and Shankar, managed to post a decent 181/4 in 20 overs.

Kohli had started on a good note and looked to continue with that. Lamichhane returned and Kohli welcomed the debutante to the real world, smacking him for a boundary. Amit Mishra was introduced into the attack. Both the batsmen assessed the bowler for a while. Mishra attempted a googly and A B read it correctly and smashed him for a six over long-off. Dala was brought into the attack. Bowled a loose ball across the leg stump and Kohli played it fine, adding more runs and reaching his fifty quite comfortably. Dala finished a decent over conceding just 9 runs. RCB were 85/2 after 9 overs.

Kohli and de villiers were moving towards a solid partnership and DD was in desperate need of a wicket. Mishra came back with the 10th over. Ball was turning but the batsmen were well settled to wait for the right delivery to hit and relied on singles until AB hit Mishra for a huge six over covers. Delhi captain was quickly switching between bowlers in search of a breakthrough and brought in Harshal Patel to bowl the 11th overs. The over saw Harshal conceding 8 runs and AB playing his trademark scoop over wicket-keepers head. Lamichane replaced Amit Mishra from the other end. After two early wickets, RCB was back on track with Kohli-de villiers adding 95 runs in 56 balls for the 3rd wicket partnership. RCB were quickly approaching the target and stood at 113/2 after 12 overs.

Harshal continued with the 13th over. DD bowlers were unable to stop the flow of runs. Both the batsmen were connecting the ball well and looked to finish the game earlier than expected. Kohli sent the first ball into the crowd over long-on. AB joined the party and hit a four and a maximum. Harshal ended an expensive over conceding 19 runs off it. Mishra returned and was hit for a cracking boundary towards on-side. Mishra answered with dismissal, thanks to Pant’s neat catch behind the wicket. Kohli had to depart. Mandeep Singh was the new man in. Batsmen were kept quiet for the rest of the over. Dala was brought back into the attack. Missed his line and Mandeep punished him with a maximum over deep fine-leg. Even after a six RCB could only manage to add 8 runs in the over. RCB were 147/3 after 15 overs and needed 35 runs in 30 balls.
Mishra had recovered from the beating he had received in his initial overs. Bowled a tight 16th over and didn’t leak too many runs to set the stage for the final overs of the match. Boult returned and started with a bang. Boult clean-bowled Mandeep Singh to revive DD’s hopes in the match. Sarfaraz Khan was the new man on the crease. With the fall of two quick wickets and some tight bowling, Delhi were making a comeback to give themselves a real chance at winning the match. But AB de Villiers was still at the crease and had the responsibility to finish the job for RCB. Harshal Patel returned to bowl the last over of his spell. Sarfaraz Khan, who was making a comeback into the team seemed to struggle a bit. He managed to hit two boundaries, one through a lofted cover drive and another a square cut. But soon tried to do something special and got out at fine-leg attempting a scoop over the wicket-keeper’s head. Grandhomme was the next man in. RCB needed 10 runs off the last 2 overs to win the match. Boult started the 19th over. AB was in hurry to win the match and walked outside off, leaving his stumps unguarded and hit a massive six towards on-side. 1 run was needed to win in 7 balls and AB finished the match in style, hitting the ball out of the park over long-off. RCB won the match with 6 balls to spare and to stay alive in the race for the top four spots. After a long time, AB and Kohli both clicked today to take the RCB through to a much-needed victory.
It was a great match and RCB kept their hopes alive for the playoffs.
“Ankit Vaishnav”

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