Kohli heroics eliminates Daredevils
RCB chased down the below-par 139-run target with ease, Kohli and KL Rahul putting up 66 runs for the third wicket for an easy six-wicket win in 18.1 overs.
Published : May 22, 2016 19:37 IST
At the beginning of this month, Delhi Daredevils was sitting pretty among the top teams and was a shoo-in for the playoffs. Royal Challengers Bangalore, on the other hand, was a step away from being relegated despite the imperious form of Virat Kohli.
By the time the league stage of the tournament came to an end here on Sunday night, Kohli had led his team to second spot on the points table and made it a clear favourite to lift the trophy. Delhi finished sixth. Gujarat Lions, as the top team, and RCB now go into the first qualifier while Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders face off in the eliminator.
RCB chased down the below-par 139-run target with ease, Kohli and KL Rahul putting up 66 runs for the third wicket for an easy six-wicket win in 18.1 overs. It looked like game on when Chris Gayle dragged an inside edge to his stumps of the very first ball from Chris Morris and AB de Villiers followed soon after, with the score reading 17 for two after three overs. But Kohli and KL Rahul wrested away any initial momentum Delhi thought it had.
> Read: De Kock praises Royal Challengers' effective bowling plan
Even though the scores were close enough in the Powerplay, Rahul cut loose soon after and began dealing in fours and sixes instead even as Kohli took on the anchor's role, content with the singles and twos. Rahul inside-edged Carlos Brathwaite's first ball onto his stumps in the 11th over but by then, RCB had taken firm control of the game and Kohli deservedly hit the winning run, a quick single off Brathwaite, to wrap up the innings with 11 balls to spare.
Crucial toss
RCB though had half won the game when Kohli put Delhi in to bat, confident of chasing down any target the host might set. It was the easiest of equations when Kohli and Zaheer Khan walked out for the toss -- win and stay alive, lose and go home. With three of the top four spots taken, the captains knew this was a knockout.
Delhi needed a big score to have any hopes of putting pressure on the famed RCB batting. Kohli's brilliance had overshadowed the impressive work the visitor's bowling unit had done recently but on Sunday, they hogged the limelight, restricting Delhi to a 138 for the loss of eight wickets.
Lone ranger de Kock
Quinton de Kock was the lone survivor of the trap built by the RCB spinners and seamers alike as Delhi suffered an early loss, Rishabh Pant edging behind to KL Rahul in the second over. Thereafter there were bursts of brilliance from Karun Nair and Sanju Samson but neither survived long enough to perform a rescue act. Nair was out to a brilliant piece of fielding from Kohli who ran back from mid-off to take a difficult catch. Samson was given caught behind trying to dab the ball to third man even though it wasn't clear if the ball had touched anything.
It was always going to be difficult thereon to get a score big enough for RCB even at this fairly large ground. Gayle's twin strikes in the 15th over to send back Pawan Negi, promoted ahead of Chris Morris, and Brathwaite reduced Delhi from 93 for four to 99 for six and broke its middle.
De Kock kept the scoreboard ticking, howsoever slowly, before being caught by Chris Jordan at long-off even though it looked like Yuzvendra Chahal had overstepped. Only a few quick boundaries towards the end by Morris ensured the half-decent score but in the end, it didn't matter as Delhi would be left wondering how things went so wrong after seemingly being so right.