The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) thumped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 38 runs in Chennai on Sunday thanks to some outrageous hitting from AB de Villiers.
After choosing to bat, De Villiers and Glenn Maxwell put on a clinic of contemporary T20 batting when they helped RCB to 204-4.
The former Proteas skipper provided a few killer blows towards the end of the innings, smashing his way to 76 of only 34 deliveries.
RCB’s innings got off to a poor star, though, as spinner Varun Chakravarthy (2-39) picked up two early Powerplay wickets including Virat Kohli (5).
Therafter, Maxwell counter-attacked and continued his superb form in this year’s IPL alongside Devdutt Padikkal, they put on an 84-run partnership. De Villiers joined the Australian out in the middle and the pair significantly increased their team’s run-rate.
The South African seemed in real tune with his game, scoring at a strike-rate of over 200. RCB managed to hit 70 runs in the last five overs with De Villiers’ innovativeness guiding them past the 200-run mark.
KKR were always going to struggle to chase down such a big total, especially against RCB who are in imperious form. Eoin Morgan’s charges struggled to get going, losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually slumped to 166-8 in their allotted 20 overs. Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (2-34) was the pick of the RCB bowlers although Kiwi Kyle Jamieson (3-41) picked up more some important scalps himself.
Andre Russell (31) and Morgan (29) top scored in KKR’s losing effort. It was KKR’s second defeat of this year’s IPL and they face another daunting task to kickstart their campaign with a big clash against the Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday.
RCB will go into their match with the Rajasthan Royals on Thursday as the only unbeaten side in the competition.
