This was a winner takes all contest with both Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers Bangalore looking to join the play-offs. Earlier in the day, Kolkata Knightriders had sealed a spot in the final four which meant that the Raipur clash was a straight shoot-out.
However, a victory for RCB would take them to second place on the basis of net run-rate. Virat Kohli was delighted in calling correctly and had no hesitation in chasing. His decision was vindicated as the Daredevils crawled to a meager total with only Quinton de Kock making a meaningful contribution.
Despite losing both Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers early, Kohli weathered a brilliant new-ball spell from rival captain Zaheer Khan. With some help from the constantly improving KL Rahul, the RCB skipper led from the front once again and helped his side grab the second spot in style.
Let us take a look at the most interesting statistics from the engrossing encounter.
0 – Bowlers from Delhi Daredevils in the top 10 wicket-takers list in this IPL. Seasoned wrist-spinner Amit Mishra is their leading wicket-taker with 13 scalps.
2 – Wickets for Gayle in the same over. Coming into this match, the burly Jamaican had bowled five overs in total and conceded only 28 runs without any dismissals.
2 – Instances when RCB have found themselves two down before reaching 50 in this IPL. The only other occasion when this happened was against Mumbai Indians at home.
2 – RCB’s final position in the league table. Astonishingly, the last five editions of the IPL have been won by teams which finished second during the group stages.
5 – Appearances in the knockout stages of the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Only Chennai Super Kings (8 times) and Mumbai Indians (6 times) have been more consistent.
10 – Fifty-plus scores for Kohli in this IPL. The 27-year old became the first batsman to post 10 such scores in a T20 tournament by eclipsing Jason Roy’s efforts in the 2014 Natwest T20 Blast.
16 – Wickets picked up by RCB spinners in the last four matches. In contrast, they had taken only 15 scalps from the first ten games.
18 – Half-centuries for de Kock from 120 T20s. The wicket-keeper batsman from South Africa has also scored three centuries in the shortest format.
19 – Wickets for Yuzvendra Chahal in this IPL, so far. The young leg-spinner is currently on top of the bowling charts despite playing 3 fewer matches than the second placed Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
19 – Fifty-plus partnerships for RCB in this IPL. Kohli has been involved with as many as 16 of those stands.
29 – Runs for de Kock while batting first from four matches in this IPL. He managed to turn it around with a patient half-century.
35 – Changes made by Delhi Daredevils throughout this IPL. Only three players including Karun Nair, Sanju Samson and Amit Mishra have played all 14 matches during this season.
52 – Balls taken by de Kock for his 60. Usually known to score runs at rapid pace, the diminutive left-hander could only register five fours and a solitary six.
900 – Kohli became the first batsman to breach the 900-run mark in a single IPL season. He needs only 81 more runs from a maximum of three matches to reach four figures.
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