IPL 9 Match 16 Review: Kohli, de Villiers fire as RPSG go down fighting

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered a crucial win in the tournament after they beat the MS Dhoni-led Rising Pune SuperGiants (RPSG) by 13 runs at the MCA Stadium, Pune.

Batting first, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers yet again put on a spectacular show with the bat to take their team to a highly challenging 185/3 in the first innings. In reply, the RPSG side could not match the brilliance of the Virat-de Villiers pair and went down fighting despite resilient knocks by Ajinkya Rahane and Thisara Perera.

The Pune side had an ominous start after they lost their star batsmen Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, and Steven Smith within no time.

While Faf du Plessis lost his wicket in the 2nd over after his mis-hit off Kane Richardson’s bowling landed straight into the hand of Harshal Patel, Kevin Pietersen had to leave the field two balls later due to a hamstring problem. In the following over, Steven Smith also went back to the pavilion.

Ajinkya Rahane (60 from 46 balls) and MS Dhoni (41 from 38 balls) then tried to take the innings forward. Rahane took the charge and was stroking runs at a brisk pace while MS Dhoni was slowly getting his eyes set with singles and doubles. Both weaved a patient 91 run stand for the fourth wicket partnership.

However, the duo went too far with their conservative approach as the run rate climbed up out of control. The failure to switch over to the aggressive mode eventually cost them heavily.

Debutant chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi, who was flown in as the replacement for injured Samuel Badree, took his first IPL wicket after he managed to outsmart Rahane and get him stumped behind in the 15th over. This important breakthrough turned the match completely into the favor of the RCB. A sensational catch by AB de Villiers at long-off in the following over saw the downfall of MS Dhoni who seemed to be struggling to get going today.

It looked as if the match had slipped away completely from RPSG’s hand. However, Thisara Perera (34 from 13 balls) and Rajat Bhatia (21 from 11 balls) added spice in the contest with their blazing knock. The 44 runs stand between them threatened to make a drastic turnaround in the game but Shane Watson interfered at the right time to make the Lankan all-rounder depart in the penultimate over. The equation came down to 21 runs from the last balls. But, Richardson did his job well in the last over to restrict the opposition to 172/8.

Earlier, Virat Kohli lost his fourth consecutive toss and was put into bat by MS Dhoni. The decision, evidently, backfired for the RPSG skipper as mercilessly by Kohli and AB de Villiers.

RCB did start really well as they lost KL Rahul quite early in the 4th of the game. But, after the fall of the early wicket, the maverick Kohli and AB de Villiers got together and made a mockery of the RPSG bowlers. The pair put a massive 155 runs stand off just 95 balls for the 2nd wicket to single-handedly propel RCB to a formidable total.

De Villiers did not take any time to get going as he cracked a four off the third ball he faced at the crease. The following over de Villiers and Kohli punished Ishant Sharma who conceded 11 runs as RCB reached 48/1 after the end of the powerplay.

The duo did not try to be very aggressive and waited for the opportunities to arrive initially – a move which paid off really well as the pair reached their 4th half-century stand of the season before the halfway stage of the game.

Rookie leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin was then introduced by MS Dhoni with a hope of a breakthrough. The leggie had managed to do so in the past but today was not his day as De Villiers effortlessly clobbered two sixes in his opening over to damage his morale.

The South African soon reached his half-century with a boundary in the following over. Virat Kohli also reached his half-century in the 15th over. In the same over, the pair also completed the century run stand for the third time this season.

There was no stopping for the duo as both continued to flourish till the last over before Thisara Perera made both of them depart off successive deliveries.

Brief Scores:

Royal Challenger Bangalore: 185/3 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 83; Thisara Perera 3/34)

Rising Pune SuperGiants: 172/8 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 60; Kane Richardson 3/13)

Man of the Match: AB de Villiers

Also, read what was the talking points of the match – IPL 9, Match 16: RPS v RCB – 5 Talking Points