CRICKET
AB de Villiers inspires Bangalore to a one run win
In the 22nd match of IPL 2021 edition, Royal Challengers Bangalore were up against Delhi Capitals.
RCB won the nail-biting contest by one run on the last ball of the match.
They are now at top of the table with 5 wins and 1 loss.
Delhi Capitals won the toss and opted to bowl first.
RCB started the innings well with 30 runs for no loss of wickets.
However, Delhi made a quick comeback as RCB lost both of their in-form openers in two consecutive balls.
Skipper Virat Kohli made only 12 runs and his partner Devdutt Padikkal also failed to score big.
Runs from Glenn Maxwell and Rajat Patidar helped RCB to recover well.
Moreover, the star of the show was the legend, AB de Villiers who played another remarkable innings.
The 37-year old was on fire with the bat. He made an unbeaten 75 runs with 5 sixes and 3 fours of just 42 balls.
As a result, RCB finished strongly with 171-5 in 20 overs.
Delhi bowlers was good in the early overs, but lost the plot against de Villers in the end.
Ishant Sharma, Rabada, Avesh, Mishra, and Axar Patel all took 1 wicket each in their 4 overs respectively.
Delhi was set to chase 172 in 120 balls.
Things didn’t start well for Delhi as they lost their most dangerous players, Shikhar Dhawan and Steve Smith early.
At 47-3 in in 7.2 overs they were struggling.
However, Skipper Pant and Marcus Stoinis carved out a decent partnership to give some hope to the Delhi fans.
But, Shimron Hetmyer’s 53 runs off just 25 balls was the highlight of their innings.
Hetmyer’s 4 sixes changed the game, with 14 runs required in the final over.
However, pacer Siraj kept his cool and RCB conceded only 12 runs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore 171 for 5 (de Villiers 75*, Patidar 31, Harshal 2-37) defeated Delhi Capitals 170 for 4 (Pant 58*, Hetmyer 53*) by one run
Preview: Chennai Super Kings vs Sunrisers Hyderabad
It is now time for the 23rd match of the 2021 season.
CSK is taking on the challenge of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
CSK are in red hot form as they have won 4 matches in a row.
Nothing is going wrong for Dhoni’s men at the moment. They are dominating and winning crucial games.
CSK has a quality batting line up and the bowling department has the experience.
With a win against Hyderabad CSK will again be on top of the table.
On the other side, we have struggling Hyderabad.
The season is not going well for Warner’s side with 4 losses in last 5 matches.
Their main problem is middle order, which hasn’t been able to score and build partnerships.
However, Jonny Bairstow is in great form and he will be the key against CSK’s quality bowling.
CSK is the favorite to win, but if Bairstow plays a blinder, Sunrisers can pull off an upset.