IPL 2018, RCB vs SRH: 5 talking points
The fully packed crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore were treated to a run-feast tonight and much to the delight of the home fans, it was Royal Challengers Bangalore who triumphed over Sunrisers Hyderabad to keep alive their chances of sealing a playoff spot in IPL 2018.
Virat Kohli's side posted 218 runs on the board after being put into bat thanks to some brilliant hitting from the likes of AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Clin de Grandhomme and Sarfaraz Khan and though they looked in a spot of bother at one time with Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey adding 135 runs for the third wicket, the home side prevailed eventually to win the contest by 14 runs.
The highlight of the day though was two stunning catches in the deep from Rashid Khan and AB de Villiers whose superlative efforts stunned the crowd into a state of frenzy.
Here are the 5 major talking points from tonight's high-scoring thriller.
#5 De Villiers and Moeen Ali lit up the Chinnaswamy with their big-hitting
The Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru has been a batting paradise in the IPL but this season, the scores have been generally on the lower side in comparison to the previous editions.
However, tonight was a throwback to the good old days as the RCB batsmen delighted the home crowd with their intent to go big right from the start.
RCB lost Parthiv Patel and skipper Virat Kohli relatively early but the hosts were relentless in their aggressive approach to the game, with the net run-rate also a concern in the race for the playoff spots.
AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali's partnership was the backbone of the RCB onslaught and it was a big surprise to see the Englishman outclass Mr 360 with a knock of 65 from 34 balls which featured as many as 6 sixers.
The pair added 107 runs in just 57 balls and blew the SRH bowling attack away with their splendid batting and was the main reason why the hosts were able to post a total in excess of 200.