IPL 2018, DD vs RCB: 3 unnoticed things from the game

Delhi Daredevils clashed against Royal Challengers Bangalore today at the Feroz Shah Kotla. Put into bat first, Delhi Daredevils managed to put up a competitive total of 181/4 in their allocated 20 overs. This was largely due to Rishab Pant, who scored a blazing 61 of 34 balls and a cameo by debutant Abhishek Sharma who scored 46 off 19 balls to take the score to 181/4.

In reply, RCB got off to a bad start losing openers Moeen Ali and Parthiv Patel quickly. Debutant Sandeep Lamichchane picked up the key wicket of Parthiv Patel to become the first Nepalese bowler to pick up a wicket in India Premier League history. But a 118 run partnership from Virat Kohli (70 of 40) and AB de Villiers (72 of 37) took them home with 5 wickets to spare.

In a game that ebbed and flowed, let’s look at 3 unnoticed things from today’s clash.

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#3 Jason Roy’s gets out to a spinner again

The Englishman Jason Roy once again was dismissed off the bowling of a spinner, this time it is leggie Yuzvendra Chahal. Knowing his troubles against slower bowling, Virat Kohli introduced spinner in the very first over. This proved to be a masterstroke as Yuzvendra Chahal got rid of Prithvi Shaw in the very first over. Prithvi Shaw was out bowled to a straighter one that didn’t spin and crashed into the middle stump.

Virat Kohli continued this tactic to continue with spin and brought back Chahal again for his second over. Chahal bowled a googly which turned into the batsman and crashed into the stumps. This was the 4th time that Jason Roy was dismissed to a leg-spinner.

#2 Debutant Abhishek Sharma’s Knock

At 4-120 in 15.1 overs, Delhi Daredevils were struggling to reach 180 and in walked Abhishek Sharma who was playing his first ever game. Not much was expected from the batsman but the debutant showed lots of promise as he struck few lusty blows to propel the score to 181. He particularly tore apart the likes of Tim Southee and Mohammad Siraj smashing them all over the park. His knock of 46 comprised of 3 boundaries and 4 maximums and most importantly none of them were false shots.

Surprisingly he played only 4 first class games before today’s game.

#1 Virat’s love affair with Feroz Shah Kotla

Despite this being an away game for RCB, it was more or less a home ground for Virat Kohli. He played a lot of first-class cricket at Feroz Shah Kotla and it was just another day for him at the office. Virat took the game away from Delhi Daredevils by virtue of his attacking strokeplay in the powerplay. This ensured RCB cruised along for a comfortable victory.

Surprisingly today’s knock of 70 is his sixth 30+ score at Feroz Shah Kotla. His highest score at this ground is 99 against the same opposition in the 6th season of Indian Premier League (2013).