UAE: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by eight wickets in the Royals’ battle in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. After winning the toss, RR chose to bat first. Josh Buttler began aggressively, but RCB quickly found the break with Isuru Udana’s delivery finding the inside edge of Steven Smith’s bat and smashing the wicket. RCB tightened its grip by sending Josh Buttler and Sanju Samson back to the pavilion in quick succession.
RCB took a timely wicket and did not allow RR to form any threatening partnerships. RR was limited at the below-par score of 154. Devdutt Padikkal gave an excellent start to the RCB. However, Shreyas Gopal got Aaron Finch’s big wicket for RR. Paddikal sent bad balls to the boundaries and provided an extra cushion to his skipper Virat Kohli to find his batting form.
With the guidance of Kohli, Paddikal reached his third half-century in the four games of IPL 2020. Kohli soon reached his first half-century of the IPL 2020, playing risk-free cricket. Paddikal got out for 63 by Jofra Archer’s yorker while moving too across in the leg side. After Paddikal’s departure, Kohli took charge and hit Tom Curran for three fours in a single over. During the match, Kohli also became the first player to score over 5,500 runs in the history of the IPL.
AB De Villers hit the nail in the coffin by hitting winning four and sent RCB to the top of the table, winning three games out of four. Yuzvendra Chahal, who took three crucial three wickets conceding only 24 runs, was adjudged Player of the Match.
Delhi outplayed Kolkata
In the second game of the day, Delhi Capitals (DC) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by eighteen runs. KKR had won the toss and opted to field first in the small ground of Sharjah.
DC openers were off to a flying start. Shikhar Dhawan was the first one to fall after scoring 26 in merely 16 deliveries. Prithvi Shaw continued slaughtering the KKR bowlers and cruised to his magnificent half-century. However, he fell off K Nagakoti’s delivery at a score of 66.
DC captain Shreyas Iyer took control of the game after Shaw’s departure and hit bowlers all around the park. Rishabh Pant joined the party and hit five fours and one six before losing his wicket at 38 off Andre Russell’s delivery.
But Shreyas continued muscling away KKR’s bowlers and took his team to a mammoth total of 228. KKR could not get a good start losing Sunil Narine for only three runs. But Nitish Rana made his way to the quickfire fifty and kept KKR in the game.
DC took quick wickets of Shubman Gill and Andre Russel and didn’t allow KKR to build any significant partnership. When Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik were out, it seemed like KKR was out of the game. But Eoin Morgan’s counterattack ignited some hope in the KKR camp. With the fall of Eoin Morgan, Delhi’s win was assured.
Delhi’s Capital Shreyas Iyer was awarded Player of the Match for his scintillating knock of 88 off merely 38 balls. With the win, Delhi replaced RCB as the league leader. RCB and DC will face each other on Monday with the top spot at stake.
