Sandeep Sharma gets Royal Challengers Bangalore off to nightmarish start in match 18 of IPL 7

Apr 28, 2014

Sandeep Sharma bowled his third over on the trot, as Yuvraj Singh and AB de Villiers tried to steady the ship for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their match against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 2014 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 7. Sharma lost his line a little, as Yuvaj managed to get a boundary to square leg off the first ball, before AB got another through covers off the third delivery. The rest of the over passed without incident.

Add Cricket Country as a Preferred Source

Mitchell Johnson came back to bowl his second over, the fifth of the innings, and started off well. His third delivery was a slower ball which de Villiers hit for a boundary down the ground. There was a slight scare from AB off the next ball, as he hesitated while taking a run, but reached the non strikers end without incident. A couple of balls later, AB was again in the line of fire as George Bailey had a shy at the stumps, but he was safe again.

Sandeep Sharma came in to bowl the fourth over and continued his impressive spell. He beat the bat of Parthiv Patel repeatedly, before getting him to edge behind to Saha for two off seven balls. Kings XI Punjab were in tatters again, with de Villiers and Yuvraj their last two recognised batsmen.

Earlier, Chris Gayle had been dismissed for 20 and Virat Kohli for four for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). They were 26 for three after three overs against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2014. Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and Yogesh Takawale were the batsmen to have been dismissed. Parthiv Patel was batting on two. Kings XI Punjab captain George Bailey won the toss and elected to field. Chris Gayle was back in the Royal Challengers Bangalore line-up. He replaced fellow West Indies cricketer Ravi Rampaul. Varun Aaron came in for Sachin Rana for Bangalore. Punjab named an unchanged XI from their win in the last match.

Chris Gayle and Parthiv Patel opened the batting for Punjab. Glenn Maxwell began proceedings. The first ball got the edge of Gayle’s bat and went past the first slip for a four towards third-man. Gayle then sliced another delivery over cover for a four. Gayle then came down the track and hit a six over long-off. The last ball of the over was smashed for a six towards long-on. But the joy of Gayle coming back into the Bangalore line-up was short-lived. He danced down the track to Sandeep Sharma and missed with his expansive drive. The ball crashed into the stumps and that prompted wild celebrations among Punjab players.

Virat Kohli was the next batsman and he cut his first delivery through point for a four. But he was dismissed LBW next delivery. The ball tailed in and struck Kohli’s pads. It looked like the ball would have gone down the leg side, but the umpire raised his finger. Kohli was not happy and took his time to walk back into the dug-out. Parthiv then almost got run-out in the third over. The shy did not hit the stumps.

Catch live blog of the IPL 2014 match between Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Chennai Super Kings here

Catch Live score and ball-by-ball commentary of the KXIP vs RCB match here

Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule: Match time table for IPL 7

Click here for IPL 2014 Schedule & Results

Click here for IPL 2014 complete coverage