The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) cantered into the playoffs after easing past the Delhi Daredevils by 6 wickets with 11 balls to spare in Raipur yesterday thanks to another Virat Kohli exhibition.
His 54 not-out from 45 deliveries was once again the standout knock of the evening. Fittingly, he hit the winning runs with a quickly taken single to mid-on, raising his arms in triumph.
Set a less than daunting 139 to win, RCB’s immense top order would have expected to make light work of the task. The cricket gods, as they so often do, tore the script up and served up a classic worthy of the ‘quarterfinal’ tag attached to this match.
Chris Gayle failed to join the party as he chopped on for one off Chris Morris (1-31 from three) for one. Knowing that he had plenty of overs to play with, the usually free flowing Jamaican tried to run the ball down to third man when he would have been better suited flaying it through the covers.
AB de Villiers (six from eight) failed for the second game in a row when he couldn’t get on top of the bounce and spooned the ball to a diving Jayant Yadav in the covers resulting in Zaheer Kahn’s first wicket. That brought Lokesh Rahul to the crease and he got on with the task at hand with maturity and composure. His season would have brought him many more plaudits had it not coincided with Kohli’s and De Villiers’s. The plucky wicketkeeper batsman averages 68 this season with 4 half centuries to his name. He once again showed why so many have earmarked him for future greatness. It would have taken a freak occurrence to remove him from the scene.
While attempting to nudge a Carlos Braithwaite length ball down to third man for a single, Rahul got too much of the bat on it and only managed to hit the ball straight into the ground. The ball somehow lobbed back towards the stumps, and in a play that happened in slow motion, removed his bails for a score of 38 from 23 balls. Braithwaite celebrated as if he had produced a peach and Kohli was left distraught on the other end, whacking his pads with his bat. He knew there was a long way to go.
The Indian skipper continued manfully and found an able partner in Shane Watson until the Aussie allrounder gave his wicket away when he holed out to deep midwicket. A rash shot when a calm head would have prevailed. Watson was not at his best tonight. His 14 off 18 with the bat and 0-27 with the ball not quite up to standard for the most expensive signing at this year’s auction.
One of the old laws of cricket states that you don’t judge a pitch or a first innings batting performance until both sides have had a go with the willow. Kohli would have launched himself at the chance to chase 139 for a spot in the playoffs and would have been elated with his bowlers’ ability to restrict Delhi.
 Apart from Quinton de Kock’s 60 from 52 and Chris Morris’ 27 from 18, Delhi’s batsmen let their coach Paddy Upton down.
Upton prides himself as a coach who gets the best out his charges through mental conditioning so will be gutted with the way his team crumbled under the pressure in this must win game. Soft dismissals riddled this innings with fielders being picked out as if that was the aim.
RCB’s fielding wasn’t great and dropped several chances with only de Kock managing to capitalise. However, it is worth mentioning Chris Gayle diving for a catch off the bat of Sam Billings to give cricket fans an opportunity to witness one of the rarest events in the game. Chris Morris added some respectability to the total, calmly going about his business once again. The allrounder has been fantastic this season with both bat and ball and will ease any concerns Proteas fans may have had regarding this role.
In a game where the batsmen were always going to be the deciding factor, JP Duminy must be wondering why he was left out of the team. The Daredevils have constantly tinkered with their starting XI, making 35 changes throughout the season. As a result, consistency has been an issue as it was again tonight.
RCB now climb to second on the log and will back themselves to make the final. They get two chances to do so courtesy of finishing in the top two alongside the Gujarat Lions. Kohli is on the verge of 1 000 2016 IPL runs but will need his compatriots to back him up leading into the business end of the season.