IPL 2019: KXIP vs RCB, Who Said What: World reacts as Royal Challengers Bangalore wins their first game of the season
They have finally done it. After Rajasthan Royals have registered their second win earlier in the day, the Royal Challengers Bangalore finally achieved success in their seventh attempt.
While Kings XI Punjab's innings was all about Chris Gayle, the Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings was about the partnership between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.
As a result of Chris Gayle's 99, KXIP managed to put up a total of 173 for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs
At the end of 17th over, the equation boiled down to 38 runs off 18 balls but ABD and Marcus Stoinis did not allow KXIP to get back in the game. They scored 18 runs off the 18th over bowled by Andrew Tye.
AB de Villiers scored 59 runs off just 38 balls and ensured that his team registered their first win of the season.
Here's how the World reacted to RCB's first win of the season:
Ravichandran Ashwin: (When asked why Sarfraz was chosen to bowl the final over) There were only 6 runs to go and the ball was sliding on nicely. I thought the best way against AB and Stoinis was to try and go with a leggie, not that Sam can't defend. We tried with wrist spinners and even I came to bowl, they were smart enough to knock around and not take any chances.
We let ourselves down in the field. We dropped catches and let a lot of balls go through us. The dew helped the wicket on. It was really dry in the first half. It gets better to bat in the second half. With 38 needed off 3 overs, I had to back my best bowlers to do the job but it didn't quite work out today.
It's (crowd) the best I have seen in Mohali. Hope they come out in large numbers. We play one here and go off to Delhi. We need to string some wins. It's not a bad time to get some momentum back.
Kohli: Most pleasing thing is coming for an interview at this time, and not immediately out of the field. Won't say we've been unlucky in every game but a couple of games we should've closed out before this. We thought 190 will be par and to restrict them to 170 was a great effort.
AB de Villiers, Man of the Match: Waited for a long time for this, so we're very happy. It's a very small step in the right direction but also a big one. I've got too much respect for the game to be upset about that, to get ahead of myself, to get too hard on myself.
It needs one knock to get back in that confidence zone, and hopefully, I can maintain that now. That's exactly the reason I've decided not to play international cricket - to be as sharp as I can in the other forms of cricket. Get to work with the university guys, the local guys, which gives me the motivation to be an example for them.
Was a fantastic move to get Dale involved. One thing for sure is he'll give 200% with every ball. We know what we have to do. \
Marcus Stoinis: (Whether being an ex-KXIP player helped in Mohali) Maybe, really enjoyed playing here (grins). I said to him (AB) that he is probably the best player of our generation and he showed it today.
(On RCB finally getting a win) Yes, I was telling Gary (Kirsten) that I had brought two points for the side after my recent trip and we got it today (chuckles). The main difference tonight was that our bowlers came back well, which is key in this format. We kept coming back with the ball and then got partnerships with the bat. (On every game being a knockout) It is, but for now, we can't get too ahead of ourselves.
Irfan Pathan:
RP Singh:
Boria Majumdar:
Ayaz Menon: