The IPL has reached the playoffs stage and the Gujarat Lions were up against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Qualifier 1. RCB had the momentum coming into the game, having won 4 games in a row and were favourites to win again as they were playing on their home ground. GL recovered from a dry run and went on to finish on the top of the table.
Catch the highlights of the game here.
Last two encounters between the two teams resulted in run fests with Virat Kohli smashing centuries on both occasions. First, his team lost despite putting up 180 on the board, and then AB de Villiers joined Kohli in piling up centuries in the next game to out bat the Gujarat Lions.
The campaign for RCB has been dominated by individual performances, Kohli in batting and Chahal in bowling. For GL, it has been a team performance that has brought them thus far. Neither a batsman nor a bowler features in the top 10 in both departments. But, collectively they have been able to win some good games and occupied the pole position.
Both teams had strong batting line-ups capable of chasing down any total. It was always going to be a matter of which teams bowls better.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field first
Playing XIs:
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (c), AB de Villiers, Lokesh Rahul (wk), Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Sachin Baby, Chris Jordan, Sreenath Aravind, Iqbal Abdulla, Yuzvendra Chahal
Gujarat Lions:
Aaron Finch, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Dwayne Smith, Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Eklavya Dwivedi, Praveen Kumar, Shadab Jakati, Dhawal Kulkarni
A dream start for RCB
RCB dismissed the three big guns Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch and Suresh Raina inside the first 4 overs. Playing a qualifier game and that too on the home ground, they couldn’t have hoped for a better start.
Iqbal Abdulla bowled perhaps the best over of his life. Off the very first ball of the second over, he got McCullum out caught at long off for just 1 run. Two balls later, he bowled the perfect left armer’s delivery to get Finch out caught at slip for 4 runs.
Watson then got the biggest of them all, Raina, in the 4th over. He couldn’t keep a pull shot down and hit it straight to backward square leg. He took 9 balls to score the solitary run. In a crunch game, GL were left reeling at 23/3 after 6 overs.
Smith, the sole fighter
Dwayne Smith was at the crease alongside Dinesh Karthik. Smith started going after the bowling after a lousy start and was the only one who looked at ease on a sluggish pitch. He is a powerful hitter and muscled a few big ones over the ropes. He fancied the leg spin of Chahal and smashed him for 16 runs in the 10th over including a six and 2 fours.
Karthik up to that point was playing a steady hand and was mostly offering the strike to Smith. Meanwhile, Smith brought up his fifty off 31 balls in the 13th over. The duo had put the team in some sort of position to achieve a respectable total. The score read 89/3 with 7 overs were remaining at that stage.
Late hitting helped Gujarat Lions reach a fighting total
Karthik, just as he was beginning to look settled, played a clumsy shot and guided Jordan’s full ball on to the stumps. He departed for 26 off 30 balls. Jadeja went early for 3 runs courtesy of Watson, while Smith smacked a couple of big blows and then was picked up by Chahal for 73 off 41 balls in the 17th over.
The youngster Eklavya Dwivedi smashed back to back sixes off Watson but lost his wicket in the pursuit of the third. Bravo was bowled off the very next delivery for 8. Kulkarni and Praveen Kumar lost their wickets in the quest for runs at the end and the Gujarat Lions were bowled out for 158 in 20 overs.
It was a great fight back by GL after being reduced to 9/3. They added 54 runs in the last 5 overs. Dwayne Smith was superb and beautifully led the recovery. The partnership between him and Karthik of 85 for the 4th wicket brought GL back in the game and provided the bowlers with a respectable total to defend.
Watson finished with 4 wickets for just 29 runs while Jordan and Abdulla picked up 2 wickets each. Chahal was costly with 42 runs for 1 wicket but got the all important wicket of Smith. The target of 159 was not going to be too challenging for the strong RCB line-up. But the track had played all sorts of tricks and the Gujarat Lions bowlers were in the game at the halfway stage.
RCB shocked by Kulkarni
The star of the tournament, Kohli, witnessed a rare failure as he was dismissed for a duck by Kulkarni in the second over. It was a huge blow for RCB losing the skipper so early in the chase.
Kulkarni’s next victim was Gayle, who was bowled in the 4th over for 9 runs. On the very next ball he got the wicket of KL Rahul, getting him caught in the slips. It was a double-wicket maiden from him.
Jadeja soon joined the act and sent Watson back in the hut for just 1, while Kulkarni went on to claim his fourth wicket as Sachin Baby scored the third duck of the Challengers innings. His figures read 8/4 in 3 overs and his spell had reduced the Bangalore outfit to 31/5 after 6 overs.
AB kept the hopes alive
It was all looking very gloomy for the Royal Challengers after they lost 5 wickets inside the powerplay. Thankfully, de Villiers was still at the crease, and with him still in the game was not over. He batted well and mixed up his power game with singles, not letting the GL bowlers settle.
Stuart Binny looked good for his time at the crease, he hit Jakati for 2 fours and a six in the 9th over. But in the over to follow, he was adjudged LBW against Jadeja for 21.
The replays suggested that the bowl had struck him outside the line of off-stump and had a long stride forward. All hopes for the Royal Challengers Bangalore rested on the shoulders of de Villiers, as 67 runs were needed from 42 balls.
AB De: AB can Do everything
The game had its last turnaround in store, the equation looked impossible for RCB, but AB made the impossible, possible. The four overs between the fifteenth and the eighteenth produced 14, 16, 12 and 18 runs.
AB was magical yet again when the chips were down, he finished unbeaten with 79 runs off just 47 balls with 5 fours and as many sixes. He was extremely well supported by Iqbal Abdulla who scored 33 not out off 25 balls who hit Bravo for three consecutive boundaries in the eighteenth over.
RCB won the game from the jaws of defeat, there was only darkness when they were 5 down for 29. AB and Abdulla added 91 runs off 52 balls for the 7th wicket and guided them to the win.
With this win, Royal Challengers Bangalore makes it directly to the final. Gujarat Lions will play the second qualifier, awaiting the winner of the eliminator between SRH and KKR.
Match Result:
GL 158/10 (20 overs), Smith 73, Watson 29/4, Jordan 26/2
RCB 159/6 (18.2 overs), de Villiers 79, Kulkarni 14/4, Jadeja 21/2
RCB won by 6 wickets
MOM: AB de Villiers
IPL 2016 Playoffs Schedule
Date | Time (BST/IST) | Fixture | Venue |
May 25 | 8:00 PM | Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Eliminator) | Delhi |
May 27 | 8:00 PM | Gujarat Lions vs TBC (Qualifier 2) | Delhi |
May 29 | 8:00 PM | Royal Challengers Bangalore vs TBC (Final) | Bangalore |
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