IPL 2018, RCB vs KXIP: AB de Villiers half century guides RCB to 4 wicket win vs KXIP

Bangalore: AB de Villiers scored 57 runs off 40 balls as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in a thrilling contest at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Friday. Umesh Yadav was awarded man of the match for his figures of 3/23 in 4 overs.

After being set a target of 156 to chase, the hosts got off to worst possible start with Brendon Mc Cullum dismissed for a golden duck by Axar Patel in the first over. Skipper Virat Kohli and wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock then tried to steady RCB innings, but Afghan youngster Mujeeb Zadran bowled a beauty of a delivery to dismiss Kohli for 21 runs.

However, the team from Bangalore got their run chase back on track thanks to half-century stand between the South African pair of de Kock and de Villiers. The pair put on 54 runs stand for the third wicket.

KXIP  skipper Ravichandran Ashwin brought the team back in the game with twin blows in the 11th over. Ashwin first removed dangerous de Kock for 45 runs and then had Sarfaraz Khan caught in slip by Karun Nair .

Mandeep Singh along with AB de Villiers then put on 59 run partnership for the 5th wicket to take the game away from the Punjab side. Andrew Tye dismissed AB de Villiers in the 18th over to set up a tense finish to the game.

Mandeep Singh too was run out in the same over, while trying to take the second run. Washington Sundar kept his cool and applied the finishing touches in the first two balls of the final over to guide the team past finishing line.

RCB 151-6 after 19 overs:

Wickets of AB de Villers and Mandeep Singh in quick succession has brought the match to nail biting finish. the pressure will be on both the teams and the one who keeps the head will go onto win the exciting contest.

WICKET! Tye has removed the big fish AB de Villiers who gives away straight catch to Karun Nair at deep point

FIFTY for AB devilliers, the first for him in this years IPL. Special knock from special player

RCB 109-4 after 15 overs:

With de Villiers at the crease RCB stands chance to win the match, but KXIP bowlers are keeping it tight and not allowing the South African batsman to free his arm.

RCB 88-4 after 12 overs:

WICKETS! KXIP skipper R Ashwin gets two wickets in two consecutive delivery,. first he clean bowled Quinton de Kock and then the very next ball he has Sarfaraz caught in slips by Karun Nair. Brilliant over by KXIP skipper

CHANCE! Quinton de Kock goes for legside slog, miscues the shot as the ball goes in the air but falls in between three fielders.

RCB 79-2 after 10 overs:

After losing Brendon Mc Cullum and Virat Kohli, the South African pair of AB De Villiers and Quinton de Kock steadid RCB 's innings amnd also scored runs with ease without losing furthur wicket

RCB 33-2 after 5 overs:

WICKET! This is huge, dream ball from the youngster and big wicket for him and KXIP. Virat Kohli goes for the drive , but the ball goes past bat and pad and hits the stumps

WICKET! This a huge wicket for KXIP, Brendon McCullum  dismissed for golden duck by left arm spinner Axar Patel. Huge blow for RCB

RCB batsman get ready to chase the target

KXIP 155-10 after 19.2 overs: Kings XI Punjab were bowled out for 155 runs in 19.2 overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore at M Chinaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday.

After being put into bat , openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal gave Kings XI Punjab good start. RCB pacer Umesh Yadav then struck three quick wickets in the 4^th over to bring back the host in the match. Yadav dismissed Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch and Yuvraj Singh in one over to put visitors on back foot.

KL Rahul and Karun Nair then put on 50 run stand for the 4^th wicket as KXIP looked like well on course towards the recovery, but a poor shot selection by Rahul handed Sundar his first wicket of the match.

RCB bowlers soon started to build pressure on opposition batsman as wickets started to tumble at regular interval.

It looked like the Punjab side managed to put up fighting total thanks to their skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (33 runs of 21 balls) 

KXIP 122-7 after 15 overs:

RCB bowlers have made strong comeback picking up wickets at regular intreval to have a firm grip on the match.

WICKET! Kulwant Khejroliya picks up Axar Patel's wicket trapping him in front of wicket. The batsman went for review but the ball was full and came back with the angle, Axar shuffled a long way across on the flick and missed the delivery completely.

WICKET! Marcus Stoinis departs, goes down the track but misses the delivery.  Qunton de Kock gets an easy stumping as Sundar picks hi second wicket of the match.

WICKET! Kejroliya picks up his first wicket of the match. Karyun Nair clean bowled as he tries to go for big shot and misses the ball completely.

WICKET! Washington Sundar strikes, gets rid of dangerous looking KL Rahul. The batsman tried to hit the delivery over mid-wicket, only to see the ball take top edge of the bat and goes straight into the hands of Sarfaraz Khan at short third man.

KXIP 84-3 after 10 overs:

After losing three quick wickets KL Rahul and Karun Nair have steadied the ship for KXIP as both the batsmen put on 48 run stand so far.

KXIP 48-3 after 5 overs:

After good start by KXIP, Umesh Yadav picked up three wickets in one over to bring the host back in the match.

KXIP 36-3 after 4 overs:

What an over by Umesh Yadav three wickets in opne over, first Mayank Agarwal, then Aaron Finch and clean bowls Yuvraj Singh of the final delivery of the over. RCB make a strong comeback

WICKET! Yuvraj SIngh sees his stumps bamboozled by Umesh Yadav, that's three in the over for the pacer. The bowlers bowls round the wickets and gets the ball to come inside sharply giving the batsman no chance.

WICKET! Umesh Yadav on a roll , the Indian pacer catches Aaron Finch right in fromt of stumps of the first ball the batsman faced. Yadav on hattrick.

WICKET! Mayank Agarwal edging Umesh Yadav's delivery to Quinton de Kock behind the stumps.

KXIP 25-0 after 2 overs:

Mayank Agarwal gets off the mark with two boundaries of Umesh Yadavs over. 9 runs conceded by the Indian pacer.

KXIP 16-0 after 1 over:

KL Rahul gives his team good start with two sixes and one four of Chris Woakes first over.

Preview: Bottom-placed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) will take on third-placed Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in their second match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Bengaluru on Friday.

The Virat Kohli-led side is hoping to get their campaign back on track after an opening game defeat, as they lock horns with Kings XI Punjab, led by Ravichandran Ashwin.

RCB lost their opening fixture to Kolkata Knight Riders after Sunil Narine snatched a crucial victory for the men in purple by smashing 17-ball fifty.  For RCB, it was Brendon McCullum and AB de Villiers who got starts but failed to convert it into a big score.

Skipper Virat Kohli will be also looking to score big this time against KXIP. Other batsmen like Quinton de Kock, Sarfaraz Khan will also aim to contribute at Chinnaswamy stadium after failing to contribute with the bat in the first game.

The bowling department will once again be headed by Umesh Yadav and Chris Woakes, who shared five wickets between them in the first game. The spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, who proved ineffective in the opener, will look to weave their magic on the home ground.

RCB will be tempted to bring in experienced New Zealand pacer Tim Southee in place of Chris Woakes and see how the move pays off.

The visitors, on the other hand, are coming into the match after a comfortable six-wicket win over Delhi Daredevils.

KL Rahul, who played for RCB till last season has already recorded the fastest-ever fifty in IPL, after scoring a 16-ball 51 run knock in the opening game. The Karnataka batsman will look to carry on the momentum on his home ground.

Chris Gayle, who has also donned the RCB jersey previously, could also find a place in the side. Aaron Finch, who was unavailable for the last match, is also in contention to make it into playing eleven.

David Miller and Marcus Stoinis add depth to KXIP batting order and the duo will be relied upon once again.

Coming to the bowling department, Afghanistan’s 17-year-old spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman who made a sensational IPL debut by picking up two wickets will look carry on from where he left off in the last game. Pacers Mohit Sharma and Andrew Tye will also look to put in a good performance.

Toss:

Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the toss and have elected to bowl first.

Virat Kohli: We are gonna have a bowl. I think the crowd thinks the match is decided on the basis of the toss. Looks like this pitch is back to normal, hence the decision to bowl first. It's the same team that played last match. It's good to be back here and the crowd looks excited always. The aim of any good side in the tournament is to play well at home.

Ravichandran Ashwin: I think it's important to start well and put up a par score. It's very important to have wickets in hand while batting first. I think we have enough bowling ammunations to put them under pressure. We have one team change, Finch comes in the place for Miller. He deserves to come in the team right away.

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Chris Woakes, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal, Umesh Yadav, Brendon McCullum, Washington Sundar, Navdeep Saini, Quinton de Kock, Mohammed Siraj, Colin de Grandhomme, Corey Anderson, M Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh, Manan Vohra, Pawan Negi, Tim Southee, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Pavan Deshpande, Anirudha Joshi.

Kings XI Punjab: Ravichandran Ashwin (captain), Yuvraj Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Mayank Dagar, Aaron Finch, Chris Gayle, Manzoor Dar, David Miller, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Karun Nair, Axar Patel, Lokesh Rahul, Marcus Stoinis, Manoj Tiwary, Andrew Tye, Ben Dwarshuis, Ankit Rajpoot, Pardeep Sahu, Mohit Sharma, Barinder Sran, Akshdeep Nath.

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 8 pm IST on Thursday (April 13)

Where is the match?

The match will take place at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore

Live telecast and timings:

With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.