RCB won their first game of the season in from of their home crowd when they beat Delhi Daredevils by 15 runs. It was a tidy bowling display by the RCB bowlers as Delhi succumbed to the pressure at the end.
Aditya Tare and Sam Billings gave the perfect start to Delhi’s chase of 158. They added 33 runs till Morris bowled Tare in the 5th over. Thereon RCB picked wickets at regular intervals.
Daredevils chances hinged on Rishabh Pant. He came out to play this game straight after his father’s funeral and whacked the first ball he faced for a six. The manner in which he went about his business today reflected how tough a character he is. He is a murdered of left-arm spin and swatted Iqbal Abdullah around. It was a pulsating contest between the spinners – Chahal and Abdullah – as both tried to bowl wide to Pant. At one point Delhi were cruising when they required 51 off the last 7 overs. But the next two overs turned the pendulum towards RCB. Watson’s quiet 13th over, where only 5 runs were made, was followed up by a 1 run over by Chahal. The leg-spinner got the wicket of Carlos Brathwaite twice, except that the umpire didn’t decide to give a plumb LBW decision. Chahal disturbed the furniture the very next ball and RCB were back in it.
Pant was still going strong and also recorded his fifty in just 33 balls. Wickets kept tumbling at the end though which meant that RCB had 19 runs to get in the final over. Watson made one of the boldest decisions when he handed the ball to Pawan Negi. Negi hadn’t bowled a single ball prior to that but delivered instantly as he uprooted the leg stump of Pant. The left-arm spinner lived up to the expectations and gave away just 3 runs and took two wickets off the final over of the game
Shane Watson called right at the toss and elected to bat first, though Bangalore is considered a chasing ground. They didn’t get to the start they would have liked losing Gayle early. Mandeep batting at No. 3 today, as Watson opened the innings, showed promised with two serene back-to-back cover-drives – one of the back foot and one off the front foot. But his innings was over as soon as it had begun as he was castled by Cummins. Watson batted well for 24 but Shahbaz Nadeem got him stumped as he bowled a tight spell in the middle overs.
RCB;s innings largely revolved around the brilliance of Kedar Jadhav. He was again at his very best scoring runs at will. The 32-year old picked his spots really well and took 24 runs off Mishra’s second over which also turned out to be his last over of the night. His 37-ball 69 helped his team to propel a par score of 157.Chris Morris was the pick of the bowlers returning with 3/21. Shahbaz Nadeem bowled economically and finished with 1/13 in four overs.
Here are some of the best tweets from the micro-blogging site Twitter:
In the West Indies they can withstand the odd hurricane but not a good leg spinner!!
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 8, 2017
Tough time for Risabh Pant. Quite amazing he's out there. Can guarantee that everyone in the cricket family is willing him to win this
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) April 8, 2017
Hit first ball he faced today for 6, hours after cremating his father. And going strong. Rishabh Pant stands btwn victory & defeat for RCB
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2017
My spin cousin @yuzi_chahal is light on weight but high on courage. Flight, dip, turn he is a heavyweight bowler. @SonySIX @ipl @RCBTweets
— Monty Panesar (@MontyPanesar) April 8, 2017
Rishabh Pant – 19-year-old
playing like 10-year experienced playerother dd players
playing like 10-year-old kids. #IPL #RCBvDD— Khurram Siddiquee (@imKhurram12) April 8, 2017
Rishab Pant's innings is exceptional regardless of how this ends. To go straight back to your day job after a bereavement, incredible! #IPL
— Tareque Laskar (@tarequelaskar) April 8, 2017
Cummins have a strike rate of 0.0 that means he spend very कमmins on the pitch as batsman. #RCBvDD
— Sir Rohit Sharma (@imWrong45) April 8, 2017
Chahal be like,If umpire dont give me a wicket 4 a LBW,then i will bowl him out the next ball so I dont want your approval.#RCBvDD#IPL2017
— Mohammed Sahil Salee (@sahil8ms) April 8, 2017
Sir @imVkohli what will you give to ur crazy fans after winning this match?
Kohali : #RCBvDD pic.twitter.com/Y3srFI0ChV
— Humorholic (@_DarkHumor) April 8, 2017
KP: How did you play that over cover shot?
Jadhav: When I use to play Tennis ball Cricket there was only off side runs that's when learned!
— Broken Cricket (@BrokenCricket) April 8, 2017
Kedar Jadhav just played a helicopter shot so perfect that MS Dhoni has instructed his lawyers to file a copyright complaint.
— TimeChor (@TheTimeChor) April 8, 2017
Tough time for Risabh Pant. Quite amazing he's out there. Can guarantee that everyone in the cricket family is willing him to win this
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) April 8, 2017
Few years ago a guy called @RobWalter17 told me that this @JadhavKedar guy can play.. Not that I didn't believe him, but oh my, this is good
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) April 8, 2017
