Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) edged past Gujarat Lions (GL) in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 by four wickets and became the first team to qualify for the final. It was by no means a walk in the park for RCB, as they were made to sweat for their win. It was yet another brilliant innings from AB de Villiers and he found an unlikely partner in Iqbal Abdullah down the order, who stayed on with him and eventually took the team over the line. It turned out to be an evenly poised game that kept everyone at the edge of the seats right till the end. Let us have a look at the highlights of the game. Full Cricket Scorecard: Gujarat Lions vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016 Qualifier 1 at Bengaluru
RCB make initial breakthroughs: GL were in deep trouble at the start of the innings, as Iqbal Abdullah—who was given the second over—dismissed openers Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch in a span of just four deliveries. Shane Watson then removed Suresh Raina couple of overs later and GL were in deep trouble at 9 for 3 in 3.4 overs. Full Cricket Blog: Gujarat Lions vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016 Qualifier 1 at Bengaluru
Dwayne Smith-Dinesh Karthik’s vital partnership: Smith and Karthik put on 98 runs for the fourth wicket that gave them an excellent platform to get to a match-winning score. Smith was the aggressor and Karthik, on the other hand, was giving as much strike as possible to Smith. Karthik was eventually dismissed for 30-ball 26.
Dwayne Smith’s face-saving innings: Smith’s 41-ball 73 was the main reason why GL got off to a substantial score. His innings was studded with five six sixes and five boundaries, which brought them right back into the contest.
Virat Kohli bows to the umpire: Eklavwya Dwivedi played a good cameo, but he was dismissed after Kohli took an excellent diving catch in the deep. But the umpires decided to go to the third umpire to confirm, much to the surprise of Kohli. After the third umpire adjudged the batsman out, Kohli took out his cap and bowed to the umpire sarcastically.
GL bowlers make dream start: GL bowlers, too, did not make a particularly bad start. Kohli was dismissed for a duck for the first time in the tournament. Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, Shane Watson and Sachin Baby failed with the bat and RCB were reduced to 31 for 5 in the batting powerplay. Dhawal Kulkarni finished with 4 for 14 and was the chief architect of RCB’s early collapse.
AB de Villiers-Iqbal Abdullah’s match-winning partnership: De Villiers stepped up to the plate and powered his way to a 47-ball 79. He hit five boundaries and five sixes and was there right till the end to see his side home. Abdullah came in at a time when RCB were 68 for 6 in 9.4 overs. He supported de Villiers brilliantly and remained not out on 33 off 25. He also scored the winning runs for RCB and the duo put on 91 for the seventh wicket.
RCB qualify for IPL 2016 final: RCB become the first team to qualify for the IPL 2016 final. They will face the winner of the second qualifier in the final at Bangalore on May 29.
(Pramod Ananthis a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.