Twitter Reactions: Heroics from Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Sharma propel DD to 181

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were in the capital city of India today for the game against Delhi Daredevils (DD) who are already knocked out of the tournament. Even for the Team in Red, it is a must-win game and the way they bowled and fielded at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium today was brilliant. After winning the toss, Virat Kohli opted to field first which was an obvious decision even as Prithvi Shaw was castled in the very first over by Yuzvendra Chahal.

Shreyas Iyer strode out to the middle to move the run-scoring in the powerplays but the other opener Jason Roy was also bowled by the leggie in the very next over to rock Delhi early. However, the hero of the last match, Rishabh Pant came out now to resurrect the innings. While the skipper Iyer played a waiting game and rotated the strike, the left-hander was again in the mood to thrash the bowlers today. Both added 93 runs for the third wicket in only 62 deliveries and once again put their team in a comfortable position.

Pant once again put on an exhibition of power hitting by smashing all the bowlers who came in his way. The maximums were coming at will for the hosts as he brought up his half-century off just 26 balls. But Moeen Ali got him in the 13th over courtesy some brilliant acrobatics in the field by none other than AB de Villiers. Pant scored 61 runs off just 34 balls and hit 5 fours and managed to clear the fence four times. His departure affected the run-scoring massively even as Iyer troubled knock also came to an end.

But the duo of the debutant Abhishek Sharma and Vijay Shankar batted extremely well. While took a couple of overs to settled down, it was the former who took the attack to RCB. The 17th over was a huge boost to Delhi’s total as Tim Southee was taken for 22 runs courtesy a couple of sixes and a four by the youngster. He unfurled his clean striking ability when it was least expected.

The death bowling of RCB once again floundered under pressure and leaked runs at the crucial period when they had a great chance to restrict the opposition to a below-par total. The young Abhishek impressed one and all by scoring 46 runs off just 19 deliveries as Delhi posted a total of 181 runs after 20 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the innings: