Luck favoured me in Virat’s dismissal: Ben

FOLLOWING THE WICKET OF KOHLI, RCB LOST MOMENTUM AND DAN CHRISTIAN USED HIS EXPERIENCE TO BUILD PRESSURE AS HE FINISHED WITH FIGURES OF 40260

Royal Challengers Bangalore had made a solid start in pursuit of Rising Pune Supergiant’s total of 161/8.

Virat Kohli was batting well on 28 and he looked to be in good touch.

However, Ben Stokes, the most expensive buy of the 2017 Indian Premier League auction, bowled a bouncer which rose up awkwardly. Kohli tried to muscle it over cover but got a top edge and Ajinkya Rahane took the catch at the deep cover fence. (IPL 2017 full coverage)

The wicket changed the course of the match and Stokes would go on to take 3/18, including the wickets of Shane Watson (14) and Adam Milne (2) as Rising Pune Supergiant defended 161, the lowest total successfully defended at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in IPL.

Speaking after the end of the match, Stokes said luck played a huge factor in Kohli’s dismissal. “I tried to second guess the shot Kohli was going to play.

“I had it in my mind that I wanted to bowl in that particular area. T20 is a tough game. On any other day, that would have gone over third man for a six. But luck was on our side,” the England allrounder said.

Following the wicket of Kohli, RCB lost momentum and Dan Christian, playing his first game for Rising Pune Supergiant, used his experience well to build pressure as he finished with figures of 4-0-26-0. Stokes credited Christian’s tight spell for the wickets at the other end.

“Christian’s economic spell pulled us back into the game. The batsmen could not pick his variations well. He bowled well in the right areas consistently. It was a great effort. Although he did not get wickets, he built pressure and the other bowlers capitalised to take wickets,” Stokes said.

Rising Pune Supergiant next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 22 while Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Gujarat Lions in Rajkot on Tuesday.