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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered their fifth victory in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 after they thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by a massive margin of 82 runs at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Chasing the challenging target of 195, Knight Riders never looked in any rhythm whatsoever. England’s young gun Tom Banton, who was playing his first game in IPL, failed to impress as Navdeep Saini dismissed him for 8 runs.
Nitish Rana (9) and Shubman Gill (34) added 28 runs for the first wicket before Washington Sundar send Rana back into the dugout.
Soon KKR lost three more wickets in the form of Gill, Dinesh Karthik (1), and Eoin Morgan (8).
Andre Russell (16) di𒊎d tဣry to accelerate the innings in the 14th over but failed to go long.
In the end, KKR could only reach 112/9, losing the game by 82 runs.
For RCB, Chris Morris and Sundar picked up two wickets each while Saini, Mohammad Siraj, Isuru Udana and Yuzvendra Chahal bagged one wicket apiece.
De Villiers’ masterclass took RCB to 194/6
Earlier, after electing to bat first, RCB openers Devdutt Padikkal (32) and Aaron Finch (47) started brilliantly. The duo added 67 runs before Russell castled Padikkal’s stumps.
After Padikkal’s dismissal, the run-rate dropped as both Finch and Virat Kohli (33 not out) were finding it difficult to score runs quickly. Due to the excessive pressure, Finch went for a glory shot in the 13th over bowled by Prasidh Krishana but missed the line and got cleaned up.
Then came the spinal column of RCB, AB de Villiers (73 not out), who completely changed the course of the match. He took KKR bowlers to the cleaners and completed his another half-century this season in just 23 deliverers. Kohli also supported his teammate as the pair stitched up a 100-run partnership to take RCB to 194/6.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
ABsolutely Devilliers.🔥🔥
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99)
Six 6's! 5 boundaries! 73runs off 33 balls..What a knocker of an innings! Just brilliant🤩!
— Nushrratt Bharuccha (@Nushrratt)
Lowest individual innings in the match by was Padikkal- 32 runs
Best innings by was Gill-34 runs!
The 82 runs defeat for KKR is easy to understand.
Chahal-Sundar excellent in spin department. Things are finally falling in plཧace for RCB.ꩲ— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh)
Good performance by in all three departments!… E na cholbe re!
— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349)
Kohli watching AB bat like
☺️
😁
😨
😱
🤤
😍
🥰
♥️— Alexandra Hartley (@AlexHartley93)
It is ABD SHOW tonight !!
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R)
Genius. F𝓀ind me another word for . This one will do for now! Genius.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha)
He is in different leauge AB Devilier .. vs
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh)
Better get yourself in front of a screen and not move! and showing the world how to play in the death overs! ♛Absolutley fabulous to watch!
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth)
Convincing victory🦂 by was playing on a d🦩ifferent pitch?
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan)
This is a massive win for 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.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
In a batters game should get MOM her𝔍e,incredible figures especially as it’s in Sharjah 👏
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38)
Yuz⛦vendra Chahal 4 overs 13 dot balls 12 runs & big wicket of Dinesh Karthik
Washington Sunda♌❀r 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
— Sarang Bhalerao (@bhaleraosarang)
This unbeaten 3rd wkt partnership of 100 runs came in just 7.4 overs @ 13.04 runs per over!
Contributions from..
AB deVilliers 73*, Virat Kohli 22*— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
RCB moves up to the third spot in ♏the points-table.
— betvisa68.com (@CricketTimesHQ)
The perfect game for !
Out of form opener got runs.
Got out just at the right time to get AB in.
AB does AB things to finish with an above-par score
All bowlers chip, plans executed to perfection
A big win to boost the NRRThis is your year, RCB. Good luck!
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS)
Washy washing everything ashore
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani)