IPL 2020: RCB vs KKR – AB special blows away brittle KKR in Sharjah

Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by a huge margin of 82 runs in Match 28 of IPL 2020. Sharjah witnessed a brilliant knock from AB de Villiers as he smacked 73* off just 33 balls after coming out to bat in the 13th over.

Earlier, after opting to bat first, Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch got the team off to a slow but good start, adding 67 runs. Virat Kohli too struggled to get going but then de Villiers took care of scoring the rest of the runs.

KKR were never in the chase right from the start. For starters, their experiment of sending IPL debutant Tom Banton to open didn’t work. It was pure brilliance from the RCB bowlers who never let the KKR batsmen up the ante at any stage of the innings. The spinning duo of Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled exceptionally as they conceded only 32 runs picking three wickets in their 8 overs together. Kolkata looked hapless right through and could only muster 112 runs/9 in 20 overs. A big loss has also hurt their net run-rate big time.

Turning Points

ABD’s knock – Well, no prizes for guessing1 This was one of the best knocks of this season. AB came out to bat at 94/2 with only 46 balls left and after middling a couple of balls, he just smacked his way to help RCB score 100 more runs in the innings. He was in beast mode on the day and didn’t spare even the likes of Pat Cummins and Andre Russell, eventually proving too good for the opposition.

Russell’s wicket: Despite having KKR on the ropes, RCB bowlers didn’t get complacent as they knew Russell had the ability to turn the game on its head. This is when Kohli introduced his trump card, Isuru Udana, into the 14th over. Despite going for 14 runs in three balls, the Sri Lankan stuck to his plans and ended up getting the prized scalp of the match. It also sealed the deal for RCB in the game.

Records/Personal Milestones

• Andre Russell completed 300 wickets in T20 cricket
• AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli completed 3000 partnership runs in IPL

Way Ahead

RCB next face the Kings XI Punjab at the same venue on Thursday while KKR face defending champions MI on October 16.