IPL 10, Match 34, RPS v RCB Review: Lockie Ferguson, Imran Tahir give RPS 5th win of the season

Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the 2nd time in the Vivo IPL as the star-studded RCB batting line up yet again succumbed under pressure and was shot out for 96 in their 20 overs. It was an exceptional display of bowling by the Pune bowlers as they defended their competitive score of 157.

For RPS, South African leggie Imran Tahir was the pick of the bowlers finishing with impressive figures of 3/18 in his 4 overs. Earlier in the day, it was the useful contributions from Rahul Tripathi, Manoj Tiwary and captain Steve Smith which propelled the hosts to a score of 157/3 in their allotted 20 overs.

RPS got off to a pretty sedate start and made only 9 runs in the first 2 overs. Eventually, the scoreboard pressure got the better of Ajinkya Rahane as he was holed out in the short fine leg region of the bowling of Samuel Badree. On the other hand, his young partner Rahul Tripathi struck a terrific straight six of Sreenath Arvind in the 5th over and followed it up with a couple of boundaries of Yuzvendra Chahal in the 6th.

Pawan Negi finally dismissed Tripathi with a short of length delivery. He attempted a cut and got an outside edge which was brilliantly taken by the wicket-keeper. RPS was really struggling and could only manage 69/2 at the end of the first 10 overs. Manoj Tiwary came ahead of MS Dhoni to join Smith in the crease.

The RPS captain started flexing his muscles from the 12th over as he smashed a six and a couple of fours of Samuel Badree. It was the turn of Manoj Tiwary to join in the fun as he stepped down the track and deposited Yuzvendra Chahal over the deep mid wicket boundary. After smashing a couple of boundaries Smith fell to Stuart Binny in the 14th over in an attempt to increase the run rate.

MS Dhoni came out in the middle to join Tiwary and struck a six and a four to get going. He couldn’t unleash the big shots quite consistently though and remained unbeaten on 21 of 17 deliveries while Tiwary was batting on 44 of 35 deliveries. It wasn’t a match-winning score but was a competitive one.

Chasing a moderate target, RCB came out with a new opening pair. Australian southpaw Travis Head accompanied captain Virat Kohli to the middle. Kohli began with a four of Jaydev Unadkat in the 2nd over but the left-arm seamer came back strongly and castled Head’s timber. Deepak Chahar was smashed for a hat-trick of boundaries by Kohli as RCB raced to 25/1 in the first 3 overs.

Dan Christian provided RPS with the biggest wicket of AB de Villiers as the right-hander drove a fuller length delivery straight to the cover fielder. Comeback man Lockie Ferguson gave RPS another wicket in the form of Kedar Jadhav’s in the 8th over followed by 2 more wickets in the next 2 overs as RCB was reduced to 49/5 in the 10th over.

Lockie Ferguson was bowling with pace and the RCB batsmen were unable to read him a single bit. He finished with unreal figures of 2/7 in his overs and was instrumental in stemming the run flow at a crucial juncture of the game. Despite wickets falling at regular intervals, Kohli waged a lone battle and ended up scoring a half-century but it wasn’t enough to turn the fortunes of RCB.

He was eventually dismissed by Daniel Christian in the final delivery of the 18th over. There was no way back for RCB and they managed to score 96/9 in their 20 overs. The defeat means RCB are no longer in contention for the playoffs berth and have to wait yet another yet to lift their maiden IPL title.

Brief Scores

Rising Pune Supergiant 157/3 in 20 overs (Steve Smith 45, Manoj Tiwary 44*, Rahul Tripathi 37, Samuel Badree 1/31, Stuart Binny 1/17)

Royal Challengers Bangalore 96/9 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 55, Imran Tahir 3/18, Lockie Ferguson 2/7)

Rising Pune Supergiant won by 61 runs

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