AB de Villiers produced a masterclass with the bat and Navdeep Saini’s brilliant penultimate over kept Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) afloat as they beat Kings XI Punjab by 17 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
De Villiers’ unbeaten 82 off 44 balls took RCB to a mammoth 202/4 but things could have gone awry with KXIP wicketkeeper-batsman Nicholas Pooran (46 off 28 balls) hitting five sixes at the rear. It was then when Saini sealed the deal for the hosts in the 19th over where he conceded three runs and took two wickets.
KXIP finished at 185/7 in their 20 overs and RCB are now on eight points with three games left — moving away from the bottom of the table.
With four wins in the last five games, the Royal Challengers will hope to win the remaining three and expect a few favourable results to make it to the play-offs as rank outsiders.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Scoreline does not reflect how close this match acutally was. Punjab’s sparkling bid to chase down 202 fizzled out only in the last over. RCB reap reward of spectacular batting by ABD, but bowling and fielding could be better
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 24, 2019
AB De Villiers…. now you sir, are a JOKE! 😳😳👏🏼👏🏼
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1) April 24, 2019
A B Delivers. Once again. #RCBvKXIP #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 24, 2019
Mr. 360 @ABdeVilliers17 sending the ball on the rooftop!! Punjab could not finish it off well at all, Parthiv at the top looking really impressive.#RCBvKXIP
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 24, 2019
Why did AB have to retire from International cricket?!! We all would of loved to have seen him in the WC next month. #CWC19 #IPL2019 #RCBvsKXIP
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93) April 24, 2019
THIS is my team!! This is the #RCB the fans love. Win or lose, THIS is our team! @RCBTweets #BELIEVE #RCBvKXIP
— Nikhil Chinapa (@nikhilchinapa) April 24, 2019
Love @imVkohli reaction catching @ashwinravi99 Great entertainment @RCBTweets and @IPL !! 👏🏻 Mother cricket always gets you!! #mankad
— Paul Collingwood (@Colly622) April 24, 2019
Stop the press. #RCB are no longer last in the #IPL2019 points table! #RCBvKXIP
— Saurabh Somani (@saurabh_42) April 24, 2019
Punjab choked. Should have won this one but the last 3 overs of their batting, just like their bowling was KXIP’s nemesis #RCBvKXIP
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) April 24, 2019
The tortoise is on the move … #RCBvKXIP
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) April 24, 2019
So Umesh Yadav redeeming himself tonight but must say Navdeep Saini was superb. And @ABdeVilliers17 what fielding from him. How can he not play the World Cup! 3 for @RCBTweets on the trot.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 24, 2019
AB de Villiers (265.4) has gone past Andre Russell (255.8) in terms of the highest batting strike-rate during the death this season. #RCBvKXIP #IPL2019
— Shubh Aggarwal (@shubh_chintak) April 24, 2019
Most Man of the Match awards for RCB in IPL:
18 AB de Villiers
17 Chris Gayle
12 Virat KohliOverall in IPL:
21 Gayle
20 ABD
16 Pathan, Rohit, Dhoni, Warner#RCBvKXIP— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) April 24, 2019
wow, more than a month into the tournament and RCB are finally off the bottom! #RCBvKXIP
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 24, 2019
AB de Villiers' last five balls for RCB:
Six
Six
Six – out of the stadium
1lb
SixMasterclass.#RCBvKXIP #VIVOIPL2019 pic.twitter.com/65ujt5KuJW
— bet365 (@bet365) April 24, 2019
Last five overs today:
RCB : 80 runs (RR : 16.00)
AB de Villiers : 46 runs off 15 balls (SR : 306.67)#RCBvKXIP— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) April 24, 2019
.@ABdeVilliers17 treated us to his range of 360 degree shots in a knock of 82* (44) to walk away with the Man of the Match award👏#RCBvKXIP pic.twitter.com/zwarv8RsHu
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 24, 2019
"I'm like a 'ComeBack Kid' – you can't keep me down for long!"@RCBTweets Beat @lionsdenkxip by 17 Runs 🔥👑#RCBvKXIP #PlayBold #BoldBrigade pic.twitter.com/iLfYz79Jx0
— RCB Bold Brigade (@BoldBrigade) April 24, 2019
