Twitter Reactions: Royal Challengers Bangalore overcome Williamson-Pandey scare to live another day

The Royal Challengers Bangalore have set up a virtual knockout game for themselves on the coming Saturday. Things could have been very different had they not won their most recent game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Bengaluru. The match proved to be an absolute run fest with the hosts defending 218 to win the game by 14 runs. They overcame the threat posed by Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey in the run chase and eked out the much-needed win.

Earlier in the game, the Royal Challengers Bangalore were asked to bat first. They lost both their in-form openers, Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel, in the powerplay. Moeen Ali and AB de Villiers then played exceedingly well for the hosts. The two overseas recruits scored their respective fifties and added 107 runs for the third wicket.

The partnership was broken by Rashid Khan who dismissed AB de Villiers on 69 off just 39 deliveries with 12 fours and a six to his name. In the very same over, Rashid sent Moeen packing on 65 that came off 34 balls with a couple of fours and six maximums. The Sunrisers Hyderabad felt they were back in the hunt but Colin de Grandhomme had other plans.

The Kiwi all-rounder smashed a 17-ball 40 before a one-handed stunner from Rashid on the fence forced him to head back to the dugout. Towards the end, Sarfaraz Khan remained unbeaten on 22 off 8 deliveries to see Royal Challengers Bangalore finish the innings with 218/6 on the board.

In the run chase, the Sunrisers got off to a flying start with Shikhar Dhawan and Alex Hales riding their luck. Both the openers were dismissed in quick succession. Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey then hit brilliant fifties to put SRH in firm command of the run chase. In the end, Williamson perished in the final over and sealed the fate of the game. Pandey found it little too much to do in the final over and that resulted in RCB registering a 14-run win.

Here is how the Twitterverse reacted to the run-fest:

Superman plays cricket.
Superman is South African.
Superman represents #RCB
Superman = @ABdeVilliers17 #RCBvSRH #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/IluByL4oD8

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2018

Un…..frikkin….believable….AB, you’re from another planet. Or may be, from a different stratosphere #RCBvSRH #IPL

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 17, 2018

Appalling 3rd umpire call. #RCBvSRH

— mark butcher (@markbutcher72) May 17, 2018

What a thrilling game yet again! Must say @RCBTweets have been terrific in their last few games. The 2 play off spots are still wide open! #RCBvSRH #IPL2018

— R P Singh (@rpsingh) May 17, 2018

The magic of #IPL …
Ish Sodhi claiming the wicket of Kane Williamson..
And..
Colin de Grandhomme taking the catch of Kane Williamson..#thekiwis#RCBvSRH#IPL2018

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) May 17, 2018

Sensational innings from Williamson. Another metre and that could have been the match for #SRH. ##RCB's game now

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 17, 2018

That was OUT … Brilliant catch by Southee … Shocking 3 rd umpire decision … #IPL2018

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 17, 2018

Bharat Ratna goes to Manish Pandey and Basil Thampi for their amazing innings.#RCBvSRH #rcb

— Ro ? (@ItsRohitx) May 17, 2018

No wonder @ABdeVilliers17 is called the Superman! What a catch #IPL2018 #RCB #RCBvSRH

— DM (@iamdivyesh) May 17, 2018

Kane Williamson is new Zealand dhoni irs a big statement but I find it true #RCBvSRH

— Jinu Thala (@Jolly_Jinu) May 17, 2018

What an outstanding game of cricket…#RCB have won three in a row. #SRH have lost two in two after dropping only two games in first 11 matches. #RCBvSRH #IPL

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 17, 2018

What a tournament its turning out to be…
5 teams are fighting for 2 spots to get into the playoffs with just 5 games left.#IPL2018 #RCBvSRH

— IPL CricfreakZ (@cricfreakz) May 17, 2018

Remember that bidding day?
We all abused Venky for not retaining Pandey, most of us (including me) wanted him to be our captain…
Turns out it was the only time abusing Venky wasn't justified ?#RCBvSRH

— SRK HATERS KO MAARO (@SRKsWarrior1__) May 17, 2018

Spirited effort from the Sunrisers trying to chase 219. Williamson was absolutely superb. Still can’t get over that catch from De villiers to dismiss Hales. RCB are well and truly in it , and after looking down and out after the first half are now at No5 in points table #RCBvSRH

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) May 17, 2018

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