Royal Challengers Bangalore’s miserable tournament continued as they crashed to 96/9, falling short of Rising Pune Supergiant’s score of 157/3 by an emphatic 61 runs. Virat Kohli provided the only resistance with a defiant half-century but every other batsmen scored in single digits to leave Bangalore floundering in dire straits.
No place for the Universe Boss
Such are the bad times at the Royal Challengers Bangalore that the Universe Boss has been on the firing line. At the toss, Virat Kohli announced three changes in the team: no Mandeep Singh, Aniket Choudhary and most importantly, Chris Gayle. Adam Milne, Sachin Baby and Stuart Binny came into their place.
Gayle’s exclusion wasn’t exactly a surprise, though. The Universe Boss has been far off his devastating best, having scored only one fifty in his six matches so far.
Kohli drops one
When Virat Kohli is dropping a sitter, you know his team is in dire straits. But that’s exactly what happened on the 18th ball of Pune’s innings. Adam Milne banged one in short, Rahul Tripathi came down and pulled it hard to Kohli at mid-on....who went and dropped it.
Steve Smith’s dismissal
Steve Smith looked he was in the mood. After a quiet start, he stepped on the gas, started getting the middle of the bat and burst off the ranks. He had reached 45 off 31 and his partnership with Manoj Tiwary had touched 50 in in just 33 balls. But one mishit off Stuart Binny cost him as Adam Milne just about held on to a top-edge.
AB-Derailed
When has AB de Villiers ever been in this bad form? The short answer is: never.
Yet again, the swashbuckling South African was dismissed for just three, playing an uppish cover drive which was pouched by Tiwary off Locke Ferguson. It’s his third successive single-digit score in the IPL, and it’s the first time it has ever happened.
Oh, come on, RCB!
Another day, another Royal Challengers Bangalore collapse. It doesn’t get old. On Saturday, in what should be an easy-peasy chase of 158, Virat Kohli stood at the other end and watched the procession. Travis Head, De Villiers, Kedar Jadhav, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny and Pawan Negi all scored in single figures to leave RCB at 61/6. You would think they would learn.
Kohli on the burning deck
This was a defiant, “man-on-the-burning-deck” innings, if there was ever one. Kohli watched first with apprehension, then horror and finally stony-faced, as batsmen fell around him. He had started off the innings with some trademark flicks but as he kept losing the strike, he grew steadily stone-faced. By the end, he just wanted to keep batting as long as possible, just so that he wouldn’t have to go back to the dressing room. His fifty came off 42 balls and he was finally dismissed for 55. He really deserves better.
Brief scores:
Rising Pune Supergiant 157/3 in 20 overs (Steve Smith 45, Manoj Tiwary 44 not out; Stuart Binny 1/17, Samuel Badree 1/31) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 96/9 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 55, Kedar Jadhav 7; Imran Tahir 3/18, Lockie Ferguson 2/7) by 61 runs.
