Twitter Reactions: AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell lift Royal Challengers to third straight win

Three played, three won by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who continued with their impressive record in the IPL 2021. In a game where momentum swung back and forth multiple times, RCB managed to secure a comfortable 38-run victory in the end.

Having – finally – won the toss against Eoin Morgan, Virat Kohli went ahead with the runs-on-the-board template keeping in mind how things unfolded in the recent past at the venue, with chasing teams struggling and collapsing.

Playing only three overseas players, RCB was pushed in a bothersome situation as early as the second over of their innings as Rahul Tripathi took a magnificent catch, running back, off Varun Chakravarthy to send back Virat Kohli cheaply. Chakravarthy dented the Challengers in the same over again, cleaning up Rajat Patidar to reduce them to 9/2.

None of that budged Glenn Maxwell, who notched up his consecutive half-century, as he rebuilt alongside Devdutt Padikkal through an 86-run partnership. Maxwell seemed in his zone as early as the second ball of his innings when he pierced the infield to smack Shakib al Hasan for a four. He belted another boundary against Pat Cummins and got RCB up and running, plundering Shakib for 17 runs in the last over of the powerplay.

Maxwell, AB de Villiers muscle RCB past 200

Chakravarthy, who was surprisingly taken off the attack despite his double-wicket over, came back in the 8th, only to be welcomed with a six over long-on followed by a boundary from Maxwell. Padikkal witnessed the carnage unfold from the other end, as Maxwell notched up his fifty from 28 balls, leaving his captain thoroughly impressed. The stand was broken when Prasidh Krishna got Padikkal caught in the 12th over to bring the explosive AB de Villiers inside.

KKR managed to keep things tight, not letting either batsman score even a single boundary in the next three overs before de Villiers belted consecutive fours, while Maxwell whacked a six off Chakravarthy to make a move on in the 17-run 15th over. De Villiers treated Krishna similarly, although Pat Cummins ended Maxwell’s 49-ball 78 onslaught to end the 53-run stand.

Playing in his territory, de Villiers toyed with Andre Russell, whacking him for six and two fours in a space of four balls. Kyle Jamieson joined along as the duo disdainfully struck Harbhajan for 18 runs in the penultimate over before Russell’s 21 in the last over. AB finished 76 off just 34 balls with RCB scoring 70 runs in the last five overs.

Regular wickets dent KKR

Being a day encounter, the RCB bowlers did not have to worry about the ball skidding under lights and the dew hurting them. Although, what did hurt them was a mini-assault from Shubman Gill, who ripped apart Jamieson 4, dot, 6, 6 before the bowler had his revenge. Not giving him any pace to work with, Jamieson’s fuller delivery did the trick as Gill picked out the 37-year-old Dan Christian, who took a sensational diving catch close to mid-on.

Nitish Rana, the new man, took a bit of time to settle, but alongside Rahul Tripathi, he accelerated swiftly, to add 34 for the second wicket. KKR was well on track of recovery with both the batsmen timing the ball sweetly, although Washington Sundar removed Tripathi on the last ball of the powerplay to thwart KKR’s momentum. In a bid to keep the momentum up, Rana slammed a couple of fours off Chahal immediately after Tripathi’s exit, but an over-ambitious slog landed straight into midwicket’s hand.

Chahal struck in his next over again, pinning Dinesh Karthik lbw before Shakib and Eoin Morgan added 40 for the fifth wicket. Momentum had only slightly started to shift towards the Riders, with both batsmen smoking a six off Maxwell, although Harshal Patel brought troubles back for them, getting Morgan caught by Kohli at extra-cover.

Muscle Russell gets going but to no avail

Guilty of giving the Caribbean way too much width, Chahal allowed Andre Russell to do Andre Russell things as he belted him for a six and three consecutive fours. When Russell struck Jamieson for another six in the following over, the once-improbable target started to appear in the sights for KKR. But straight in face of those hopes came Jamieson’s perfect yorker that cleaned up Shakib.

Only a couple of deliveries later, Jamieson brought RCB entirely into the game, making Cummins nick one to De Villiers straight after he had hit a six first ball. Siraj’s wide yorkers in the penultimate over restricted Russell to open his arms as he refused singles and played five dots in a one-run over. Needing an impossible 43 from last over, Russell (31) chopped on Harshal Patel to end the game.

Here’s how Twitter reacted