de Villiers powered RCB reign over Rajasthan in a Royal battle

Bangalore made 2 changes in their squad since last match. While Dilshan scored the highest score (76 off 58) with the bat, KP Appanna took 4 wickets for just 19 to complete a comprehensive win for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Earlier, Rajasthan won the toss and decided to bowl first. Much to the surprise, it was Dilshan and Kohli who walked out to open the innings as Gayle was conspicuous in his absence. It was later known that he had vomited just before the start of the match and was being examined by the doctor. Meanwhile, the opening duo gave a decent start before Kohli (16) was dismissed by Pankaj Singh. Mayank Agarwal (15) too failed to make much impact and an unwell Gayle (4) departed quickly to a wrong ‘un from Hogg. From there on, it was all Dilshan and de Villiers show. The South African in particular was in murderous mood and scored a rampant 56 off 23 deliveries with 3 fours and 5 sixes. Bangalore ended up with 189 on board, much more than what looked possible at the half mark during their innings.

Rajasthan made a decent start with Rahane (13) and Dravid getting off to quick starts. But a good catch from Luke Pomersbach who came on as a sub for Gayle at long-on off Appanna cut short Rahane’s stay at the crease. Another man-in-form for Rajasthan, Owais Shah (10) was also done by a delivery from the left arm spinner which turned and bounced and missed Shah’s expansive shot down the crease and de Villiers made sure there were no heroics from him tonight. It was a case of getting in, scoring a couple of shots and then a long walk back to the dugout for Rajasthan’s batsmen from there on-wards as nobody made it past 20 with Dravid’s 58 off 42 deliveries being the highest score by a big margin. Appanna ended with 4 wickets added to his tally as Rajasthan could only manage 143 at the end of 20 overs.

Scores:

Royal Challengers Banglaore - 189/3 (Dilshan 76*, de Villiers 59*, B Hogg 2-39)

Rajasthan Royals - 143/7  (Dravid 58, S Binny 20, KP Appanna 4-19)

Man of the Match - AB de Villiers