IPL 2018: Match 45, DD vs RCB - Who Said What

The jam-packed crowd of Ferozshah Kotla was treated with a masterclass from two of the best players in the world on Saturday. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were absolutely magnificent in the chase of 182 runs as they came together when their team was struggling on 18/2. They took the game away from Delhi Daredevils (DD) so sublimely that nobody knew. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the game by 5 wickets easily as the heroics from the duo overshadowed the brilliance of Rishabh Pant and Abhishek Sharma earlier.

Earlier in the chase, Moeen Ali and Parthiv Patel were dismissed early to give the jitters in the camp. Then the dynamic duo of Kohli and De Villiers added 118 runs for the second wicket to put their side in command. Though Amit Mishra prized scalp of the opposition skipper, it was too late for the hosts. RCB lost Mandeep Singh and Sarfaraz Khan after that but De Villiers had decided to finish the game for his team and he did it with a superb six over long on in the 19th over to keep the hopes of the playoffs alive.

After being invited to bat first by the visitors Delhi also got off to a worst possible start as they lost their openers Prithvi Shaw and Jason Roy to Yuzvendra Chahal. But then the partnership between Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant bailed them out of trouble for the umpteenth time in this tournament. While the former was playing quietly tonight, the latter was special again helping his team with a blitzkrieg. He smashed a 26-ball half-century but was dismissed soon after that which slowed down the scoring rate considerably.

However, the debutant and the teenager Abhishek Sharma had different ideas as he launched an assault on Tim Southee. Delhi went on to add 56 runs in the last 4 overs by exposing the death bowling of RCB once again and posted a mammoth total of 181 runs after 20 overs which were not enough once again.

Man of the Match, AB de Villiers said:

To be honest with you it felt a bit weird tonight. Luckily Mishy bowled me one full ball out there and luckily I got it away and that kick started my innings.

I started off slowly, luckily Virat was going well at the other end. Started feeling much better after 10-15 balls.

It’s admirable to see youngsters come here and perform well (talking about Lamichhane), very happy to be a part of a tournament like this. We play for a proud franchise, the management and my team-mates and that is what motivates me.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain, Virat Kohli said:

The table is wide open. It is the right time to get a win for us. It was a great feeling playing in front of a big crowd. Surprising to see so much support for us in Delhi. Again not a clinical show with the ball.

We should have restricted them to maximum 160, but they played really well. At this stage of the tournament, maybe we will prefer bowling first because the batsmen can take more responsibility and chase down every total.

We understand teams don’t want to let us win now. Ask the opposition team to get the runs and tell them we are coming after it. That’s what works for our team and it really motivates us.

I wasn’t happy with the way we finished with the ball, but AB told me in the innings break that we can do this and that is what helped me get into the zone and then I let my instincts take over.

It’s an honour for me to bat with AB. We were looking to finish it with a few more overs to spare to help the net run rate, but the two points are very important.

Delhi Daredevils captain, Shreyas Iyer said:

With the kind of start we got, getting to 180 I thought was more than enough. Unfortunately we weren’t able to defend this as well; we aren’t executing the plans we form in the dressing room. I don’t feel the pressure of captaincy at all.

Today was one of those bad days when I couldn’t time the ball well at all. The only thing you can do to handle pressure is by scoring regularly. I have a few coaches and mentors whose inputs I take regularly.

I wouldn’t like to take their names, just in case I forget someone. We are already making 3-4 changes in every game and we are hoping to set up our team for the next season.

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