RCB banking on 4 straight home games to revive IPL campaign: Woakes
RCB openers Manan Vohra (2 off five balls) and Quinton de Kock (18 off 16 balls) struggled at the outset before Kohli and De Villiers brought calm assurance to the middle, albeit that the India skipper had run out the Proteas wicketkeeper batsman in a terrible mix up. Two out of the three losses for RCB have come in chases, even as the ultimate chase-master – Virat Kohli – has already amassed 200-odd runs.
While DD is at the bottom of the points table, RCB has fared only marginally better. Delhi has Vijay Shankar and Chris Morris on which they can’t rely much while on the other hand, RCB has inexperienced Sarfaraz Khan and Mandeep Singh.
Gambhir, who made the switch for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to Delhi Daredevils (DD) ahead of the ongoing 11th season, insists that cricket fans in the country have always been “taken for granted” and that they deserve better than just being considered “an afterthought”. RCB cancelled their practice on the eve of the match owing to a heavy downpour, while DD waited for it to subside and hit the nets late evening. Gambhir’s poor run continued with the bat as he was dismissed after an ugly innings, scoring just 3. His scintillating unbeaten 39-ball 90 – studded with 10 fours and five sixes – took Bangalore home with two overs and six wickets to spare.
16 – Quinton de Kock’s runout was the 16th instance of Virat Kohli’s partner getting runout in the IPL. Rishabh Pant’s brilliant effort for Delhi (85 off 48 balls) went in vain. “Pity I couldn’t stay till the end but Corey and Andy did well”, Kohli said at the post-match presentation. RCB won the toss and elected to field first.
Delhi started their innings shakily losing both their openers in the powerplays. Adding intrigue to the contest is the fact that while RCB’s only win came in their backyard, for DD, the lone victory came on the road. It was once again Kohli and de Villiers who stitched an important 103 run partnership in 12.2 overs.
In the bowling unit, young leggie Rahul Tewatia has lived upto the expectations of the franchise after scalping six wickets from four games.