The IPL is starting to heat up as this was the third game in a row where 39 or more overs were played in the continuum of two innings. As Ajinkya Rahane led his team to a fine total of 191, MS Dhoni has only his bowlers to blame for not being able to defend that.
Yes, the pitch was a belter of a track and a paradise for batsmen, but the decision to give Ravi Ashwin only one over remains a baffling one.
But the man of the hour—and of the tournament—is Virat Kohli. An epic innings that saw him score his second ton of the tournament gave Bangalore an easy win in the end as they now see a very small ray of hope to qualify for the play-offs.
In this thrilling encounter, there were plenty of moments that don't fade away, just like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Let's take a look at the top 5:
Rahane is a great T20 player
Another game and another great performance from Ajinkya Rahane. If this tournament doesn’t put the myth about him being unfit to play T20 to bed, then nothing ever will. Not that he should care, though, as his bat is doing all the talking.
He has been the best batsmen for Rising Pune Supergiants in this tournament and he scored his 6th 50 of the tournament with a brilliant knock against the Bangalore franchise.
In the end, a Shane Watson special was needed to remove him, but it wasn’t before he scored a fiery 48-ball 74 to help Dhoni’s men to a competitive total of 191.
Tiwary’s comeback
Before this season, it seemed as though this man’s career was all but over. After one great season with the Mumbai Indians, a lot was expected from him, but all he did was disappoint after his big money move to Royal Challengers Bangalore.
However, he seems to have found a new lease of life with Pune as his batting under the stewardship of Dhoni has brought him back in the radar. Scoring his second 50 in three games, he has been one of the positives in an underwhelming campaign for Pune.
His 52-runs came in 39 balls as he partnered with Ajinkya Rahane to give Pune a good score on board against his former team.
Watson’s experience comes in handy
Royal Challengers Bangalore might have the best batting line-up in the tournament (which now seems like a debatable argument), but their bowling is the absolute worst among the 8 teams (which has no room for debate at all).
Their bowling lacks experience and firepower and it is for his reason that they drafted in yorker-specialist Chris Jordan in their team—who failed to live up to expectations in his debut IPL game.
However, it wasn’t all gloomy today as Shane Watson provided some respite for his team. When everyone else failed to stop the flow of runs and pick wickets, he stood up and used all his experience to grab 3 wickets in the 4 overs that he bowled while giving away only 24 runs in the process.
Shane Watson’s blast with the bat
When he came to bat, Royal Challengers needed 95 runs off the last 8 overs. And when he left the pitch after being caught in front of the stumps by RP Singh, his team required 49 runs from the last 27 balls. In essence, he brought the required run rate down by a considerable margin.
And why not? After AB de Villiers played an uncharacteristically poor innings, where he scored 1 runs off 3 balls, the onus was on Shane Watson to do what his team-mate couldn’t. And he didn’t disappoint.
He got to play only 13 balls but inflicted utmost damage as he scored 36 runs off them to speed up the chase and give Kohli some breathing space.
Virat Kohli’s knock
This man is scary. This man is unreal. There are simply not enough words of praises to describe his genius. When he started this tournament, he had no centuries under his name in T20 cricket. Now, he has two.
His first century came in a losing cause against Gujarat Lions, but he made sure that he left the game as a victor after he scored his second ton in the IPL.
He stayed from start to finish and orchestrated the chase in a way only he can. No other batsmen—not even AB de Villiers—can pace an innings like he does while chasing.
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