Royal Challengers Bangalore played their best game of the season yesterday when they beat Gujarat Titans. RCB had to win the game to stay in contention for a place in the play-offs. Faf Du Plessis and his side won by 8 wickets to only keep their hopes alive, but also knock out Punjab and Hyderabad from the race. What made the win more special was the fact that Virat Kohli came back to form with the bat. This is good news not only for the RCB fans, but also the Indian cricket fans.
Hardik Pandya’s antics –
The said incident happened in the last ball of the 16th over, with Hardik Pandya bowling to Glenn Maxwell. Just as Pandya was running into bowl, Maxwell stopped him as there was disturbance near the sight screen. The GT captain was miffed at the stoppage as he was nearly through his bowling routine. Even Kohli was motioning something to him, but the GT captain threw the ball away in a act of disgust.
— ChaiBiscuit (@Biscuit8Chai) May 19, 2022
Hardik Pandya stars with the bat –
Gujarat won the toss and chose to bat first in a bid to test how the players cope when asked to bat first. Shubman Gill was the first to go for 1 when he was sent back by Hazlewood taken in the slip by a flying Maxwell. Wade batting at number 3 was given a controversial decision and he wasn’t too pleased about it. Pandya and Saha then combined to add 24 runs for the 3rd wicket, before the veteran was out for 31. It was then the Pandya and Maxwell show as the two went after the RCB bowlers. They added 61 for the 4th wicket before Miller perished for 34 off 25 balls with 3 sixes. Pandya stayed not out on 62 off 47 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes as GT reached 168 on the board.
Kohli roars back to form and give RCB win by 8 wickets –
Chasing 169 to win, Kohli seemed to be a different animal as he bought out his best game of the season. The openers added 115 for the first wicket, with both going after the bowlers. Du Plessis was out for 44 off 38 balls with 5 fours. Kohli and Maxwell then added 31 runs for the 2nd wicket in just 13 balls. Kohli was out stumped for 74 from 54 balls with 8 fours and 2 sixes. Maxwell finished off the task in hand with unbeaten 40 off 18 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes. RCB won the game by 8 wickets with 10 balls to spare and go 4th in table.
The equation is now simple, every RCB member will have their eye on the Delhi versus Mumbai game. A win for Delhi means RCB will be dumped out, while a win for Mumbai would mean that RCB will play either RR or LSG in the first eliminator.
Click on the link to get the real time cricket updates, news and match score https://t.me/+d_XknWYMHtY0MzJl