IPL 6: Match 21 - RCB vs DD - The Quick Flicks
In another nail-biting RCB contest, the home team prevailed over Delhi Daredevils in the Super Over to clinch a victory, which could have been an emphatic one half an hour before the match eventually ended. Here’s a quick look at the match:
Rampant openers and the stunning catch
After Kohli won the toss and put Delhi to bat first, Virender Sehwag and David Warner typically provided a quick start, putting away the loose balls for quick boundaries on the fast outfield at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore. When Vinay Kumar was brought in the sixth over, Warner tried to swat away a length delivery from the bowler, before Vinay showed some quick reflexes to pull a stunning catch to end the entertaining 43-run stand. Sehwag followed his opening partner to the pavilion in the next over, giving a simple catch to Virat Kohli at mid-wicket off Andrew McDonald.
Mahela never gets going
Mahela Jayawardene usually starts slowly, but backs it up with some glorious shots towards the end, thus making a good impact on the score. But with the tumble of wickets at the other end, Jayawardene never got going and didn’t look at any stage to increase the run-rate. His innings met an unfortunate end with Kedar Jadhav driving a ball straight down the ground, but finding the bowler, Vinay Kumar’s boot; the ball deflected and hit the stumps, ending the DD captain’s knock, who had backed away too much.
RP gets hit again
RP Singh didn’t seem to have woken up from the blues of Chepauk, as he leaked away runs in all his four overs. And in the death, he gave a bit too many runs to Kedar Jadhav and Irfan Pathan, as the duo put on a 30-run partnership off the last 12 balls to give Delhi a respectable score to defend.
No storm this time, only a drizzle!
AB de Villiers was at his innovative best
Chris Gayle, who opened the innings along with youngster Lokesh Rahul, appeared to be in the right mood for another onslaught, as he thwacked leading pace bowler Morne Morkel for two sixes, one over long-on and another over point. But Morkel had the last laugh though, getting him to miscue a ball straight into the hands of Umesh Yadav at third man.
Class + Innovation
Virat Kohli carried over his good from with some classy, well executed shots at one end, whereas Abraham Benjamin de Villiers was at his innovative best, playing some unimaginable shots over all parts of the ground. Both the players set the tune for a perfect chase, picking up the necessary ones and twos with some terrific running and then treating the freebies easily to the fence without much of a toil.
A big twist in the tale!
As it has been the trend for RCB this season, they self-demolished with key wickets falling regularly at both the ends. It all started with de Villiers getting run-out off the last ball of the sixteenth over, when Morne Morkel fired in a throw from mid-off at the non-striker’s end to send his compatriot back to the pavilion. McDonald followed it up with a simple return catch to Shahbaz Nadeem in the next over, before Syed Mohammad and captain Kohli perished off successive balls in the penultimate over, leaving RCB a target of 12 runs to win from the final over. Ravi Rampaul clubbed Irfan Pathan’s first ball for a six to get RCB into the Super Over by gathering 11 off that over.
Super Super-over!
RCB came out to bat with Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers taking on pacer Umesh Yadav. Yadav kept it tight, giving away only three off the first four deliveries, before de Villiers smashed the last two balls for sixes to give DD a target of 16 runs. Since Sehwag hadn’t taken the field for the last few overs of RCB’s innings and wasn’t eligible to bat in the Super Over, David Warner and Ben Rohrer came out to the middle against Ravi Rampaul. Warner perished off the first ball, hitting out to Gayle at point, before Irfan Pathan smoked a six and a boundary to leave DD to get five off the last ball, with Rohrer on strike. Rampaul held his nerve to bowl it full and straight, shattering the stumps, and clinching the cliffhanger for RCB.