IPL 2018, RCB vs RCB: 4 unnoticed things from the game

A nail-biter at the Chinnaswamy, as RCB kept their hope alive of making it into the playoffs, defeating the table toppers SRH in a last over thriller.

Kane Williamson, having won the toss, decided to bowl first. Their last match’s hero against RCB, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was rested and young Basil Thampi was in for him. After Kohli and Parthiv Patel went cheaply, it was a grand display of T20 batting from AB De Villiers and Moeen Ali amassing 107 runs for the third wicket. SRH were back in the game as the magician Rashid Khan removed both the batsmen in an over. However, RCB had a great finish as Colin de Grandhomme and Sarfaraz take the hosts to 218.

The SRH started their chase briskly but soon lost both the openers. But captain Kane Williamson’s splendid knock of 81 of just 42 well supported by Manish Pandey’s 62 of 38 kept them in the hunt till the end. Yuzvendra Chahal was impressive with the ball conceding just 28 runs in his quota of 4 overs in a high scoring game scalping the important wicket of Shikhar Dhawan. With some quality death bowling display by Southee, RCB ensured a 14 run victory over the Sunrisers.

Here are a few things that went unnoticed amidst this high intense contest.

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#1 AB de Villiers becomes the second South African to play 250 T20 Matches

En route his magnificent innings of 69 (39) against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and taking a stunner at the boundary line to dismiss the dangerous SRH opener Alex Hales, which might just be the catch of the tournament, AB de Villers became the second South African player after all-rounder Albie Morkel (307) to play 250 T20 matches.

The pack is led by the big West Indian Keiron Pollard with 421 matches. It was a memorable outing as AB’s masterclass with the bat well supported by Moeen Ali ensured that the hosts got past the 200 mark and earned a comfortable win over the Sunrisers.

#2 Rashid Khan garners wicket number 150

Giant Killer Rashid Khan becomes the first Afghan bowler to pile up 150 T20 wickets. In a high scoring encounter where more than 400 runs were scored, the teenage prodigy from Afghanistan bowled an impressive spell of 4 overs conceding mere 27 runs and picking up 3 big wickets of RCB’s captain Kohli, AB De Villiers and Mooen Ali.

He has been the backbone of SRH’s successful season along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddarth Kaul. The world number 1 T20 bowler is proving that he is worth every penny. SRH’s hope to regain the IPL crown lies a lot on the shoulders of young Rashid Khan.

#3 A night to forget for young Basil Thampi

Basil Thampi now holds the embarrassing record of the worst bowling figures in the history of IPL. The youngster was taken apart by the destructive RCB batsmen. His figures read 4-0-70-0. The record was previously held by SRH’s Ishant Sharma whose figures of 4-0-66-0 came against Chennai Super Kings in 2013.

The Sunrisers, having ensured a top 2 finish, experimented with the young sensation Basil Thampi that miserably failed today. Being touted as one of the best bowling attacks of this edition of the Indian Premier League, SRH would certainly want to forget their day with the ball. They're in form lead Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming back to playing eleven should settle the nerves in the playoffs.

#4 AB’s promotion up the order

Although the most destructive batting line up on paper, the Royal Challengers were struggling to get their combinations right at the top. They have tried a variety of players at the top of the order in QDK, Brendon McCullum, Moeen Ali. This made their two best batsmen Kohli and AB De Villiers to come down the order and lesser balls to face.

With Kohli promoting himself to open the innings with Parthiv Patel, AB was promoted to number 3 and he hit a swashbuckling 69 of just 39 deliveries which included 12 fours and a monstrous 105m six. The move proved match winning for the men in red and black as AB De Villiers went on to win the Player of the match for his exquisite batting display.