Two of the game’s modern greats Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers put on an exhibition of batting in a second wicket stand worth 157 as the Royal Challengers Bangalore demolished the Sunrisers Hyderabad by 45 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore yesterday.
Between them, De Villiers (82 off 42) and Kohli (75 off 51) smashed 14 fours and 9 sixes as they pounded a Sunrisers bowling. RCB have surprisingly never won the IPL but have stated their intentions of rectifying that with a resounding win that never looked in doubt. Sunrisers’ captain David Warner offered a brief glimmer of hope with a belligerent 58 from 24, but when he holed out to deep square leg after failing to keep down a Shane Watson bumper, so ended the away side’s chances of an upset.
Warner won the toss and chose to bowl first. He would have been delighted with the start, dismissing Chris Gayle for a duck when the big Jamaican lost his leg stump via his thigh pad off Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
But that only brought de Villiers to the crease who all but won the match with Kohli within 12 overs of brutal batting. De Villiers scored torrent of boundaries before his innings came to an end when Eoin Morgan held on to the ball.
Sarfaraz Khan promises to be one for the future. The 18-year-old batsman scooped and punched his way to 35 not out off 10 balls as Bangalore marched past 200.
Apart from Warner, the one shining light for the Sunrisers was the performance of 20-year-old Mustafizur Rahman. The Bangladeshi left-arm seamer, on his IPL debut, managed to secure impressive figures of 2-26 off his 4 overs, at a run rate of 5.8 to the over.
Ashish Reddy, Karn Sharma and Morgan provided some entertainment later on, but the required rate was always beyond them.
Parvez Rasool was the standout bowler for RCB side after the off-spinner returned with 1-31. His dismissal of Shikhar Dhawan (8 off 9 balls) derailed the chase before it got going and he varied his pace well throughout.
Watson, the most expensive player at this year’s auction will be pleased with his all-round performance. His breezy 19 with the bat and 2-30 with the ball, will give him confidence.
Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore innings 227/4 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 82, Virat Kohli 75; Mustafizur Rahman 2/26, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar 2/55) bt Sunrisers Hyderabad innings 182/6 in 20 overs
(D Warner 58, Ashish Reddy 32; S Watson 2-30, Parvez Rasool 1-31, Y Chahal 2-43)
by 45 runs
Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman AB de Villiers plays a shot during his 82 off 42 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. (AFP)
