IPL: AB de Villiers smashes 57 to help RCB beat Kings

Where is IPL 2018 Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals? An integral part of CSK in the past decade, Ashwin can be expected to use every bit of information from his mental database to help Kings XI. “Bowlers were also able to get some purchase and it was good for batting as well”.

On the eve of the game, the highly-rated Jofra Archer took to the nets and appeared comfortable after having suffered a side strain in the recently-concluded PSL that kept him out of RR’s first two fixtures.

STAR South African batsman AB de Villiers struck a half century with a late flurry of sixes as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets to notch up their first win in the IPL-11. That left them at 33 for two after Brendon McCullum’s dismissal in the first over. Moeen Ali is unlikely to get a game for the time being.

Between the two teams, Bangalore hold the edge, despite winning just two of the six matches against their opponents of the morrow at this venue.

Like Bangalore, their bowling looks a little suspect.

Protea Fire: With arguably the most fire-power of any top order in the competition, if one Bangalore batsman doesn’t hurt you, another most likely will. He’s been run out in both of his matches so far.

Bangalore are always too short.

The South African duo of AB de Villiers (57, 40b, 2×4, 4×6) and Quinton de Kock (45, 34b, 7×4; 1×6), showed fantastic temperament and character to ensure a home win for Royal Challengers Bangalore on Friday night.

Agarwal edged the first ball of the fourth over to wicketkeeper De Kock before Australian Finch was trapped leg-before the next delivery.

The side is fresh off a 10-run win over Delhi Daredevils in a curtailed encounter, when the run chase was reduced to a six-over dash.

This may have been an away game for Kings XI, but two local boys walked out to open. Umesh bowled well; getting three wickets in an over is great. But anyone who has followed his career closely knows that it tends to be a little bit feast or starvation with him and he doesn’t often follow up a big performance like that with another one. Rahul took apart Chris Woakes in the opening over. Though Quinton de Kock silently promised RCB’s chase would not hit the bumpy road with some lovely strokeplay, Ashwin brought back the visitors into the game with two wickets in a single over.

Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane, to an extent, have been the only silver lining in Rajasthan’s fragile batting lineup.

With their top-five players sitting in dugout, Punjab’s lower-order got exposed early.

Can Ben Stokes finally come good with the bat?