Batting first RCB lost KL Rahul early
and also Ishant Sharma did not have the best of starts as he erred with his lines and was targeted by the Royal Challengers openers. But the Supergiants managed to pull things back via Thisara Perera as he kept things tight from his end and also accounted for KL Rahul. Once again, it was up to Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to lay the platform for their team and they started doing that by taking on Ishant, who conceded 31 off his first three overs. Royal Challengers ended the powerplay at a run-rate of eight, not too brisk going by their standards, but a solid one nevertheless.
AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli sparkled with the bat yet again while Kane Richardson bagged a three-wicket haul as Royal Challengers Bangalore, the only team to defend a total successfully so far in the tournament, did so again as they defeated Rising Pune Super Giants by 13 runs in the 16th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 on Friday (April 22). Asked to bat first, Royal Challengers rode on superb knocks from de Villiers (83) and Kohli (80) to post a sizeable total of 185 for three. In reply, Ajinkya Rahane (60), MS Dhoni (41) and Thisara Perera (34) came up with fighting knocks, but their efforts went in vain as the hosts ended up short of the target.
After the powerplay, Rajat Bhatia - brought in for Irfan Pathan - and R Ashwin bowled a couple of tight overs, but de Villiers stepped on the pedal and the second-wicket pair raised their fourth fifty+ partnership in as many games. Murugan Ashwin's introduction in the 11th over did not turn out to the hosts' liking as the legspinner conceded 18, which included two sixes for de Villiers. Royal Challengers reached the 100-run mark in the 12th over and de Villiers also got to his fifty in the same over, taking only 25 balls to get there. This was also his third fifty in a row in Pune.
Kohli, who was happy to play the second fiddle, extended his superb form in T20 cricket this year. Before this game, he had scored 812 runs in 15 innings with nine fifties and he added to the tally by registering his third half-century in this edition of the tournament. Soon after, Kohli and de Villiers brought up their third hundred-run stand of IPL 2016 - coming off 69 deliveries. Supergiants had an opportunity to end the partnership and send back Kohli, but Ankit Sharma failed to hold on to a top-edge, denying R Ashwin a wicket, which added to the bowler's woes as he had earlier bowled five wides down the leg side in the same over.
Bhatia, brought back into the attack for the 17th over, did a good job as he conceded only seven. A 13-run over by Perera, which included a six for Kohli, helped Royal Challengers past 150 and Ishant's re-introduction for the penultimate over yielded the visitors 16 runs, including two fours for Kohli and a mighty six for de Villiers. It was a forgettable outing for Ishant, whose four overs yielded 47 runs without a wicket.
Kohli started the final over with a four off Perera - a yorker dispatched past backward point - to take the stand to the 150-mark, and caressed one more to the opposite side of the fence. But his outing came to an end when he found Rahane at deep mid-wicket. De Villiers followed soon after, handing Ankit Sharma a catch at mid-off, as Royal Challengers finished with 34 runs more than the average first-innings score in Pune. It was also the second-highest total at this venue.
After the powerplay, Rajat Bhatia - brought in for Irfan Pathan - and R Ashwin bowled a couple of tight overs, but de Villiers stepped on the pedal and the second-wicket pair raised their fourth fifty+ partnership in as many games. Murugan Ashwin's introduction in the 11th over did not turn out to the hosts' liking as the legspinner conceded 18, which included two sixes for de Villiers. Royal Challengers reached the 100-run mark in the 12th over and de Villiers also got to his fifty in the same over, taking only 25 balls to get there. This was also his third fifty in a row in Pune.
Kohli, who was happy to play the second fiddle, extended his superb form in T20 cricket this year. Before this game, he had scored 812 runs in 15 innings with nine fifties and he added to the tally by registering his third half-century in this edition of the tournament. Soon after, Kohli and de Villiers brought up their third hundred-run stand of IPL 2016 - coming off 69 deliveries. Supergiants had an opportunity to end the partnership and send back Kohli, but Ankit Sharma failed to hold on to a top-edge, denying R Ashwin a wicket, which added to the bowler's woes as he had earlier bowled five wides down the leg side in the same over.
Bhatia, brought back into the attack for the 17th over, did a good job as he conceded only seven. A 13-run over by Perera, which included a six for Kohli, helped Royal Challengers past 150 and Ishant's re-introduction for the penultimate over yielded the visitors 16 runs, including two fours for Kohli and a mighty six for de Villiers. It was a forgettable outing for Ishant, whose four overs yielded 47 runs without a wicket.
Kohli started the final over with a four off Perera - a yorker dispatched past backward point - to take the stand to the 150-mark, and caressed one more to the opposite side of the fence. But his outing came to an end when he found Rahane at deep mid-wicket. De Villiers followed soon after, handing Ankit Sharma a catch at mid-off, as Royal Challengers finished with 34 runs more than the average first-innings score in Pune. It was also the second-highest total at this venue.
Ajinkya Rahane got the chase moving with a couple of crisply-timed drives off Stuart Binny. The hosts though suffered a setback as the in-form Faf du Plessis spooned a catch to Harshal Patel at mid-off to give Kane Richardson a wicket. In what came as another major setback, Kevin Pietersen limped off the field after playing just one ball. Steven Smith, the next man in, did not stay for too long either. After missing a flick off Harshal, there was a huge appeal for leg-before and even as the umpire turned it down, Smith tried to sneak a quick single. But an alert Kohli, at point, hit the stumps direct to find Smith short of the crease.
MS Dhoni and Rahane were tasked with Supergiants's recovery. Early wickets meant that they could not attempt anything fancy and this had a bearing on the scoring rate as they could only manage 36 in the powerplay. However, it did not take too long for Rahane and Dhoni to make up for that. It was a partnership that was paced well as they kept ticking away for singles and twos, ran hard between the wickets and managed boundaries from time to time to register a crucial half-century stand that kept the hosts in the hunt. Dhoni, like it has been with him over the past few years, played the anchor's role and fed his partner most of the strike. Rahane, who was doing most of the boundary-hitting, brought up a 37-ball fifty.
MS Dhoni and Rahane were tasked with Supergiants's recovery. Early wickets meant that they could not attempt anything fancy and this had a bearing on the scoring rate as they could only manage 36 in the powerplay. However, it did not take too long for Rahane and Dhoni to make up for that. It was a partnership that was paced well as they kept ticking away for singles and twos, ran hard between the wickets and managed boundaries from time to time to register a crucial half-century stand that kept the hosts in the hunt. Dhoni, like it has been with him over the past few years, played the anchor's role and fed his partner most of the strike. Rahane, who was doing most of the boundary-hitting, brought up a 37-ball fifty.
However, the required rate was constantly on the rise and was nearing 14 an over when Supergiants's total reached 100 in the 14th over. In his attempt to up the ante, Rahane was out stumped for a 46-ball 60 as debutant Tabraiz Shamsi picked up his maiden IPL wicket. However, the chinaman bowler finished with expensive figures, conceding 36 runs off his four overs for the lone wicket.
The onus was on Dhoni and Perera to make a game out of it but the skipper had to depart nine short of a half-century when holed out to de Villiers at long-off while trying to clear the fence off Harshal Patel.
Bhatia and Perera then seemed adamant to write their own script. With a flurry of hits to and over the boundary, the fifth-wicket pair tried to take the match close. Watson conceded 15 in the 17th over while Harshal went for 25, which included a six for Bhatia and three fours and a maximum off successive deliveries for Perera. However, the partnership came to an end in the penultimate over. Bhatia got a reprieve when he was put down by Rahul, but Watson managed to send back Perera and Ashwin in quick succession.
With 21 needed off the final over, Bhatia had no other option other than wielding the long handle and he fell in his attempt to go over the top, as did M Ashwin, giving Richardson wickets off consecutive deliveries as Pune ended up 14 short of the target.
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