Royal Challengers Bangalore routed Kolkata Knight Riders in the 39th match in Abu Dhabi on October 21 piggyriding on Mohammed Siraj’s brilliant spell of three wickets for the loss of 8 runs. Kolkata could make only 84 for 8, the lowest total of the season, despite winning the toss and batting first. Bangalore easily chased the target at the loss of two wickets.

Right-arm pacer Siraj who replaced Shahbaz Ahmed in the team took three wickets in consecutive overs. He dismissed Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana in his first over and then Tom Banton in his second. He also had two consecutive maiden overs, thus creating a history in the IPL.

This was followed by leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s onslaught destroying Kolkata batting line-up beyond repair. Washington Sundar (1 for 14) and Chahal (2 for 15) destroyed KKR middle order.

Captain Eoin Morgan (30 runs off 34 balls) alone made a valiant attempt to save the innings for KKR.

Bangalore’s chase was aided by Devdutt Padikkal (25 off 17). Virat Kohli (18 off 17) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (21 off 26) remained unbeaten to ensure an easy 8-wicket win for RCB with 39 balls to spare.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore registered a massive 82-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on October 12.

RCB captain Virat Kohli had opted to bat, reasoning that the pitch will be slower in the second half.

Man of the match AB de Villiers and Kohli had a 100-run partnership that steered the side to 194 for two. The South African batsman played an aggressive 73 off 33 balls (five boundaries and six sixes) while Kohli hit 33 off 28 balls.

This was followed by RCB spinners tightening the chase. Washington Sundar (2/20) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1/12) gave KKR a hard time and they could never really score on a sluggish wicket. The success of the spinners was partly down to the tiring pitches and the absence of grass.

For KKR, Shubhman Gill topscored with 34 off 25 balls, and the team finished at 112 for nine.
Rahul Tripathi, who had played brilliant innings against Chennai and Delhi, was shuffled to the lower-middle order, this time to accommodate IPL debutant Tom Banton at the top. Banton could make only 8 off 12 balls. Tripathi batted at No. 7 and by the time he came in, the game was up for the Knight Riders.

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K.L. Rahul, the Kings XI Punjab skipper, smashed an unbeaten 132 off just 69 deliveries – the first century of the 2020 season and the highest in IPL by an Indian so far – to help his team post a massive 206 for 3 and a 97-run win.

The Karnataka batsman also recorded the highest score ever by a captain in the IPL, and broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record to become the fastest Indian to reach 2,000 IPL runs, achieving the feat in 60 innings compared to Tendulkar’s 63 innings.

India as well as RCB captain Virat Kohli dropped Rahul twice – on 83 and again on 89 one over later – in the match in Dubai on September 24. Rahul, who hit 14 fours and seven sixes in his blistering attack, was adjudged player of the match. For RCB, Ravi Bishnoi took three wickets for 31 runs and Murugan Ashwin 3 for 21.

Kohli, who elected to bowl after winning the toss, acknowledged that he did not have the “best day of the office”. While he was dismissed for 1, his team was packed off for 109 in 17 overs.

Dean Jones’ death

The game started on a sombre note on account of the sudden death of Australian batsman and cricket commentator Dean Jones, who had been covering the IPL tournament from Mumbai, from a heart attack.
Players from both teams wore black armbands to honour Jones and in a pre-match show, fellow commentator and Australian Brett Lee praised the late 59-year-old as an “absolute legend”.

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Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 10-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first Indian Premier League match on September 21 at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.

Chasing 164, Sunrisers – who won the toss and decided to bowl – looked comfortable with Jonny Bairstow in superb form and batting on 61 (6 fours and 2 sixes) after the initial setback of losing opener David Warner (6) to a second-over run-out. Sunrisers looked all set with 121-2 in the 16th over but when Bairstow decided to attack a delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal (3-18), he became the first of eight wickets lost in 26 balls.

Vijay Shankar fell for a duck from the next delivery while the wickets of Priyam Garg (12) , Abhishek Sharma (7) and Rashid Khan (6) fell quickly soon after. An injured Mitchell Marsh demoted down the batting line-up led to the collapse of the lower order and RCB romped home in the IPL opener. RCB’s win was achieved in the final over when Sandeep Sharma (9) was caught in the deep by skipper Virat Kohli off Dale Steyn (1-33).

Devdutt Padikkal (56) and AB de Villiers (51) helped RCB shore up 163-5 in their 20 overs.

RCB’s maiden victory in IPL 2020 could signify that their jinx in the IPL is over and that they can hope for the title for the first time.

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