RCB vs GL and KKR vs RPS, IPL 2016 Results, Match Highlights & Updated Points Table

RCB v/s GL, Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore took on Gujarat Lions in the 44th game of the IPL as they begun their do or die run for the playoff spot. They had to win every single game from that stage and one more loss would mean that Kohli’s side needed to wait one more season to win their maiden IPL title.

Last time these two teams met, it was the Kohli show that lit up the stadium at Rajkot with his first ever T20 ton. Despite his brilliance, the bowlers failed to defend even a huge score of 180 which pretty much sums up the story for RCB this season. Batsmen like Kohli and de Villiers had batted superbly but heavily let down by the bowlers.

Contrary to RCB, GL enjoyed a terrific run in the tournament. Before the start of the game, they were sitting pretty at the number 2 spot on the points table and a win would see them top the table again. It was the first time ever that Raina was set to miss a game in the IPL. McCullum was to lead the side in his absence.

RCB haven’t had a good record at home and GL too have struggled away from their home. It was going to be interesting to see which of these facts would take a turn at the end of the game.

Gujarat Lions won the toss and elected to field first.

Playing XIs:

Gujarat Lions:

Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Aaron Finch, Akshdeep Nath, Dwayne Bravo, Praveen Kumar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe, Shivil Kaushik

Royal Challengers Bangalore:

Virat Kohli(c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Lokesh Rahul(w), Shane Watson, Sachin Baby, Stuart Binny, Sreenath Aravind, Chris Jordan, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Chahal

Gayle departed early again

The terrible form of Chris Gayle continued in the tournament. He slashed at a wide one from Dhawal Kulkarni but an inside edge removed the baila. He scored just 6 off 13. Virat started steadily as he was not looking to take too many risks. AB de Villiers began on a positive note with 2 sixes early in his innings which boosted RCB to 42/1 as the powerplay finished.

The AB-Kohli show once more

The most delightful partnership in the game of cricket of AB and Kohli flourished yet again. de Villiers was in a devastating mood and looked to smash every bowler out the park. He reached his fifty in the 12th over off just 25 balls. Kohli was playing second fiddle to him as AB hit some of his trademark shots.

The duo brought up one more century partnership in the 14th over. RCB looked well set to reach a huge score once more as they reached 122/1 at the end of 14 overs.

Magical hundreds from AB and Kohli put RCB on top

AB and Kohli went absolutely berserk in the final few overs. AB notched up his 3rd IPL hundred off just 43 balls in the 16th over. He scored his second half of the century off just 18 balls. Meanwhile, Kohli also brought up his 3rd century of the season in the 19th over. It was the first time ever in IPL that two batsmen scored centuries in the same innings.

Both kept hitting six after six and finished with 20 sixes combined. It was absolute carnage at the Chinnaswamy and the passionate crowd of RCB got their money’s worth. Kohli caught up with AB with second fifty off just 12 balls as he reached his hundred off 53 balls.

Plenty of records were broken as they scored a massive 126 runs in the last 6 overs. The duo shared their second double hundred partnership in the IPL history. They put on 229 runs together for the second wicket which happened to be the highest ever partnership in T20s.

RCB finished with 248/3 which turned out be the second highest team total in IPL. Kohli became the first player to score 3 centuries in a single IPL season and also surpassed Uthappa’s record with 677 runs in a season.

RCB got off to a perfect start with the ball

Having put up a massive total on the board, RCB couldn’t have asked for a better start as they dismissed the two dangerous openers, Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. Smith was bowled by Sreenath Aravind off a ball that did not rise too much. McCullum soon followed him back to the pavilion for just 11 runs.

Those two were expected to score for GL if they were to get anywhere close to the target, but wasn’t to be. At the end of the powerplay, GL were reeling at 41/2.

Wickets kept tumbling for GL

Yuzvendra Chahal and Chris Jordan made the mockery of the GL batting line-up. Chahal picked up 3 wickets and finished his spell with his best bowling figures in the IPL of 19/3. Jadeja, Karthik, Bravo, Nath, Kumar and Kulkarni all went in quick successions. Jordan bounced back from a terrible outing in the last game and picked up 4 wickets up to that stage. GL were tottering at 74/8 at the end of 13 overs.

RCB complete a thumping win

It was a mere formality for the bowlers to end the misery of GL batsmen. Kohli had been fined twice in the tournament for slow over rates and one more could have led to a suspension for him. So, to make amends he brought Gayle and himself into the attack to finish the overs quickly.

They could easily afford that with the amount of runs on the board. Finch batted the most for GL for 37 runs but he was going nowhere with his innings.

RCB won by 144 runs and achieved the biggest victory in terms of margin of runs in IPL history. Kohli was delighted with the victory. It was a truly professional performance as everything was perfect for them in the game. This huge win would give them a big boost to their net run-rate.

Both teams stayed where they were on the points table. This would give RCB a huge momentum for their remaining 3 games.

Match Result:

RCB 248/3 (20 overs) de Villiers 129, Kohli 109, Praveen 45/2

GL 104/10 (18.4 overs) Finch 37, Jordan 11/4, Chahal 19/3

RCB won by 144 runs

MOM: AB de Villiers

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KKR v/s RPS, Kolkata

The mayhem at Chinnaswamy stadium was followed by next game of the doubleheader. Kolkata Knight Riders played host to Rising Pune Supergiants in the 45th game. RPS were out of contention for the playoff spot whereas KKR were well and truly in with the chance to finish in the top two.

In the last game when these two teams met, it was a close encounter which was decided in the last over. RPS had put on 160 on the board with Rahane emerging as the highest scorer. Chasing 161 to win, KKR suffered a late collapse. But the tailender Umesh Yadav hit a six to bring the side home.

RPS had nothing to lose but everything to gain from this match. They could try out new combinations giving chances to those players who had been warming the benches throughout the tournament. For KKR, it wasn’t a dead rubber by any sort of imagination. They would love to get the 2 points by winning the match.

Rising Pune Supergiants won the toss and elected to bat first.

Playing XIs:

Rising Pune Supergiants:

Ajinkya Rahane, Usman Khawaja, George Bailey, Saurabh Tiwary, MS Dhoni(c/wk), Thisara Perera, Irfan Pathan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Murugan Ashwin, Ashok Dinda

Kolkata Knight Riders:

Robin Uthappa(wk), Gautam Gambhir(c), Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan, Yusuf Pathan, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Morne Morkel, Ankit Rajpoot, Sunil Narine

KKR grab the early breakthroughs

Morne Morkel and Andre Russell were fuming in right from the first ball. Russell picked up the first wicket when he castled the in-form Rahane for just 2 runs. Shakib then dismissed Usman Khawaja just when he was starting to look good. He gave an easy catch to Suryakumar Yadav at the deep square leg boundary. RPS managed only 37 runs at the loss of two wickets at the end of the powerplay.

Wickets kept the scoring in check

Saurabh Tiwary after forming some sort of partnership with George Bailey departed in the 10th over. The floodgates then opened for RPS and they kept losing wickets one after the other. Bailey, Irfan and Perera did not trouble the scorers much and RPS were six down for just 102 runs.

Rain Gods interrupted

In the 18th over, when Dhoni and Ashwin were batting together, the sky opened up and Eden Gardens suffered a heavy downpour. The players had to be taken off the field and they remained away for quite a while till the rain relented. After more than two hours of no game, the ground was cleared to resume the play.

The Duckworth/Lewis method came into place and KKR were given a reduced target of 66 runs in 9 overs.

Ashwin got 2 wickets in the first over

It was a dramatic first over from Ravichandran Ashwin. He got hit for four off the first ball by Uthappa and then got him out stumped off the next. He then picked up another when he trapped Gambhir in front of the wickets for a duck. Next ball, he had a vicious appeal for another LBW against Yusuf Pathan which was turned down by the umpire.

Yusuf was in a hurry

The explosive batsman started to take charge of the chase along with Manish Pandey as they looked to cash in on every delivery. They scored 13 off Dinda in the second over, 22 off R Ashwin in the 3rd and 13 again off M Ashwin in the 4th. Especially Yusuf Pathan was explosive as he hit 3 colossal sixes and KKR were all set to clinch a comfortable victory.

KKR imposed an emphatic win

It was a rather easy victory after two early losses for KKR. They reached the target of 66 in just the 5th over and stamped their authority over RPS defeating them twice in the league. Yusuf finished with 37 off 18 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Manish Pandey played a nice helping hand with 15 off 10.

Chasing 66 runs in 9 overs was never going to be too difficult for the strong KKR batting line-up. After the early hiccup, Yusuf ensured they won the game comfortably. KKR grab vital two points with this win and moved to the number 2 spot on the points table.

Match Result:

RPS 103/6 (17.4 overs) Bailey 33, Chawla 21/2, Russell 11/1

KKR 66/2 (5 overs) Yusuf 37, Pandey 15, R Ashwin 30/2

KKR won by 8 wickets (D/L method)

MOM: Yusuf Pathan

IPL 2016 Points Table and Standings

Position	Team	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Net RR	Points
1	SRH	11	7	4	0	0	+0.417	14
2	KKR	11	7	4	0	0	+0.373	14
3	GL	12	7	5	0	0	-0.747	14
4	DD	10	6	4	0	0	+0.376	12
5	MI	12	6	6	0	0	-0.435	12
6	RCB	11	5	6	0	0	+0.627	10
7	KXIP	11	4	7	0	0	-0.384	8
8	RPS	12	3	9	0	0	-0.078	6

IPL 2016 Schedule

Date	Time (BST/IST)	Fixture	Venue
May 15	4:00 PM	Kings XI Punjab v/s Sunrisers Hyderabad	Mohali
May 15	8:00 PM	Mumbai Indians v/s Delhi Daredevils	Visakhapatnam
May 16	8:00 PM	Kolkata Knight Riders v/s Royal Challengers Bangalore	Kolkata
May 17	8:00 PM	Rising Pune Supergiants v/s Delhi Daredevils	Visakhapatnam