IPL 2018: DD Vs RCB, Highlights: Kohli-De Villiers' show guides RCB to a comfortable win

New Delhi, May 12: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers struck fine half-centuries as Royal Challengers Bangalore cruised to a clinical 5-wicket win over Delhi Daredevil in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 clash here on Saturday (May 12).

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Chasing a competitive target of 182, RCB's two most dependable batsmen i.e. Kohli (70 off 40 deliveries) and De Villiers (72* off 37) rose to the occasion and handed their team a comfortable win in a must-win game. The duo stitched a mammoth 118-run partnership for the third wicket and guided their team to an emphatic win against a listless Delhi side, which is already out of the playoffs' contention.

Virat Kohli's 26-ball fifty in this match is his joint-fastest in the Twenty20 format. He scored a fifty off 26 balls against RR earlier this season. #IPL2018 #DDvRCB

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) May 12, 2018

Bangalore, however, didn't have the best of starts when they came out to chase as both their openers Moeen Ali (1) and Parthiv Patel (6) were dismissed cheaply in the powerplays itself. But Kohli and De Villiers guided their team through troubled waters and ensured they overhaul the target quite comfortably.

Kohli (7 fours and 2 sixes) smashed his 34th IPL fifty while the South African swashbuckler struck his 26th half-century of the cash-rich league. By the time Kohli was dismissed by Amit Mishra as he edged the leg-spinner to be caught by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, RCB were already in control.

Abhishek Sharma's 46* off 19 is the highest score by a 17-year old in IPL.

He missed becoming the youngest to score a IPL fifty.

Looks like another special talent! #DDvRCB

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 12, 2018

The veteran South Africa batsman, on the other hand, struck four boundaries and six maximums in his knock and remained unbeaten till the end. De Villiers, who was adjudged the man of the match for his entertaining knock, also hit the winning runs for his team as he hammered a big six against Trent Boult and took his team home in style.

Most Man of the Match awards in IPL:

20 Chris Gayle
17 AB DE VILLIERS
16 Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma
15 David Warner
14 Dhoni, Raina#DDvRCB

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) May 12, 2018

In the course of their run chase, RCB also lost the wickets of Mandeep Singh (13) - who was cleaned up by Boult - and Sarfraz Khan (11) - who was brilliantly set up by the bowler Harshal Patel as he got the young batsman caught at deep fine-leg by Prithvi Shaw.

Ali was trapped in front by Boult while in-form Patel was trapped in front by young Nepali leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane. Lamichhane, who made his IPL debut in this game, is certainly going to remember this scalp for the rest of his life. The 19-year-old spinner opened the bowling for Daredevils, finished with impressive figures of 4-0-25-1.

Junior Dala had claimed Virat Kohli's wicket in the Centurion T20I in Feb.
So what does Virat do?
takes 15 off Dala's first over in #IPL#DDvRCB#IPL2018

— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) May 12, 2018

Boult 4/40 was slightly expensive while Mishra, as usual, was at his economical best with 1/33 and accounted for the wicket of dangerous Kohli. Rest of the bowlers had a rather ordinary outing into the middle due to which the hosts could never put pressure on the visiting side.

With this win, RCB have managed eight points with four wins from 11 games and would now hope to win all of their remaining games and at the same time pray for others like Mumbai Indians, Kolkata Knight Riders, and Rajasthan Royals to lose.

Kohli, the local boy, after ending up on the winning side in a do-or-die game stressed that the table is still wide open and that his team needs to capitalise upon the momentum they've got.

"The table is wide open. It is the right time to get a win for us. It was a great feeling playing in front of a big crowd. Surprising to see so much support for us in Delhi. Again not a clinical show with the ball.

"We should have restricted them to maximum 160, but they played really well. At this stage of the tournament, maybe we will prefer bowling first because the batsmen can take more responsibility and chase down every total. We understand teams don't want to let us win now. Ask the opposition team to get the runs and tell them we are coming after it. That's what works for our team and it really motivates us.

"I wasn't happy with the way we finished with the ball, but AB told me in the innings break that we can do this and that is what helped me get into the zone and then I let my instincts take over. It's an honour for me to bat with AB. We were looking to finish it with a few more overs to spare to help the net run rate, but the two points are very important," concluded the 29-year-old Delhi cricketer.

Earlier, Rishabh Pant maintained his sublime form with a blistering fifty while young Abhishek Sharma impressed on his debut to guide Delhi Daredevils to 181 for four.

Pant, who slammed his maiden IPL century in the previous game, remained at his destructive best with 34-ball 61 while Sharma, who hammered an unbeaten 46 off 19 balls, was one of three IPL debutants for Delhi alongsideNepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane and South African pacer Junior Dala.

Different when the big guys play. #AB #Kohli.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 12, 2018

Considering how easily Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down 188 in the previous game, Virat Kohli opted to put the opposition in. The RCB skipper started with spin and it got him instant breakthrough with Yuzvendra Chahal castling the talented Prithvi Shaw with a wrong one.

Kohli at Kotla in IPL:

1(1)*
13(11)
56(38)
73(53)*
99(58)
35(23)*
58(45)
70(40) -- today

8 inngs; 405 runs; Avg 81.00; SR 150.55; 5 X 50s#DDvRCB #IPl2018

— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) May 12, 2018

A little later Chahal sent back Jason Roy in a similar fashion as the Englishman failed to read the wrong one off the Indian spinner's hands, leaving Delhi at two for 16 in the third over.

The dangerous duo of Pant and skipper Shreyas Iyer (32 off 35) then got together to resurrect the innings. They shared a 93-run stand with Pant doing the bulk of the damage. Pant, who smashed an epic 63-ball 128 here on Thursday night, pulverised the visitors' attack yet again.

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The southpaw got going by depositing Mohammed Siraj for successive sixes in the eighth over, one came off a pull over midwicket and the other was a flatter hit over long-off.

Pant raced to his fourth fifty of the season off 27 balls and was poised for another big innings. It only took a special effort to remove Pant with AB de Villiers holding on to a spectacular sliding catch at long-on.

The beauty of #VIVOIPL.

Young @PrithviShaw in conversation with #RCB and #TeamIndia Skipper @imVkohli. pic.twitter.com/Jz5aov9G2K

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 12, 2018

The other set batsman, Iyer, too departed soon after Pant's fall, hurting the innings momentum to leave Delhi at 120 four in 15.1 overs. That was when Sharma stepped in and took the opposition by surprise. The left-hander looked good from ball one when he smashed Siraj to the long-off boundary.

Luck was also on his side as Sharma was dropped by Siraj at third man and to add insult to the injury, the ball deflected from his hands to the ropes. Tim Southee was the unfortunate bowler who eventually leaked 22 runs in the 17th over with Sharma smashing him for two sixes in a row.

And @IamAbhiSharma4 has arrived ! 46 of 19 this kid is special dd vs RCB

— yuvraj singh (@YUVSTRONG12) May 12, 2018

The 17-year-old belied his age with such clean and powerful hitting in an innings that comprised four sixes and three boundaries. The last 29 balls fetched 61 runs for Delhi with Sharma and Vijay Shankar (21 off 20) sharing an unbeaten 61-run stand off 30 balls.