IPL 2017 | Kohli’s knock in vain as RCB implode again

04/29/2017

RCB's wretched batting form continued as they were beaten soundly by RPS by 61 runs in Pune today. Chasing a target of 158, Virat Kohli played a patient innings 47-ball 55 innings but it proved to be in vain as no other batsman even scored double digits and RCB were rounded up for just 96/9.

Brief Scores: Rising Pune Supergiant 157/3 (Steve Smith 45, Manoj Tiwary 44*; Stuart Binny 1/17, Pawan Negi 1/18) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 96/9 (Virat Kohli 55 ; Imran Tahir 3/18, Lockie Ferguson 2/7) by 61 runs.

The “King of Chasing”, Virat Kohli, won the toss and elected to field first announcing Chris Gayle, Mandeep Singh, and Aniket Choudhary had been replaced by Adam Milne, Sachin Baby, and Stuart Binny. Pune also made two changes from their loss against KKR with Deepak Chahar and Lockie Ferguson coming in for Shardul Thakur and Faf du Plessis.

Negi and Binny restrict Pune after Tripathi start

Bangalore got off to a good start with Adam Milne and Samuel Badree giving away just 9 runs in the first two overs and almost getting a breakthrough, in the form of Rahul Tripathi, but Kohli, of all people, dropped a sitter at short mid-wicket. Ajinkya Rahane, yet again, was not able to make a notable contribution as he was gobbled up by Milne at short fine leg off Badree’s bowling. Tripathi, then, took matters into his own hands and ensured Pune managed to reach 43/1 off the powerplay overs. However, it didn't last long as the introduction of Pawan Negi and Stuart Binny restricted the home side to just 67/2 at the midway point with Tripathi joining Rahane back in the dressing room for a well-compiled 37 off 28 balls.

Dhoni and Tiwary take Pune past 150

Pune were struggling to build any sort of momentum as Negi gave away just two runs in the 11th. Smith, though, was done playing the waiting game as he tore into Badree with a 16-run over consisting of a six and two boundaries of three consecutive balls. But a couple of overs later, having hit Binny for two boundaries in an over, Smith got greedy and ended up skying a ball right into the hands of Milne at fine leg. The momentum was lost yet again and over the next two overs, Pune could only manage six runs to take their score to 115 off 16 overs. Manoj Tiwary and MS Dhoni ensured Pune finished their innings with a flurry scoring 42 off the last four overs to set Bangalore a target of 158.

Surprise, surprise, RCB top order fails again

Having lost 20 wickets in the last two innings, Bangalore got off to a tentative start with both batsmen not risking too many shots against the swinging ball. It proved to be unfruitful as Head was dismissed by a beautiful inswinging ball that just clipped the bails. Virat Kohli hit Chahar for three boundaries in the next over to put some pressure on the Pune team but de Villiers, who has been struggling throughout the tournament, just threw away his wicket to put the pressure back onto his team. Kedar Jadhav and Kohli took Bangalore to 39 off the powerplay overs but the required rate had already gone past eight an over. Things were about to get worse as RCB lost Jadhav, Sachin Baby, and Stuart Binny in successive overs to reach the midway point needing 109 to win but with just 5 wickets in hand.

RPS shatter RCB’s playoff dreams, more or less

Knowing that he was the last standing batsman for his team, Virat Kohli refrained from trying any risky shots. While he managed to snuff out the chance of claiming his wicket, the required run rate was at an upward trend. The wickets kept tumbling at the other end and with boundaries being a scarce commodity, the ball not crossing the ropes in 11 overs, the required run rate crossed the 20-run mark. Needing 76 off the last three overs, Kohli’s stand finally came to an end when he top-edged a Christian ball into the hands of Mayank Agarwal at deep square leg. Pune finally won the game by 61 runs and RCB will now need a miracle to book a place in the playoffs.