Hands Kings XI big win against RCB
The opener’s steady halfcentury takes sheen of AB de Villiers’ hurricane knock of 46ball 89
four sixes and three fours.
Missing both skipper Virat Kohli and de Villiers due to injuries, RCB sorely missed their batting firepower in the first two matches. On Monday, KXIP once again left the Bangalore side reeling at 80 for four after 16 overs.
AB de Villiers played steadily before opening up, hammering nine sixes and three fours. He raised a 46-run partnership with Mandeep Singh and an unbeaten 80 with Stuart Binny, for the fourth and fifth wickets respectively.
While de Villiers’ innings was cheered on by the Indore crowd, Kings XI bowlers choked RCB’S scoring. Varun Aaron (2/21), Axar Patel (1/12) and Sandeep Sharma (1/26) were economical too.
In reply, Kings XI Punjab started on a strong note. Manan Vohra (34) and Amla struck 62 in six overs as the home team looked solid. The duo’s stand reached 50 in just 30 balls.
After Vohra fell leg before to pacer Tymal Mills, there was a brief lull and Axar Patel too followed Vohra.
But Maxwell arrived and combined with Amla to notch an unbeaten 72-run stand.
Amla played an uncharacteristic knock, going for boundaries from the start. Two quick wickets didn’t deter him. He was also dropped by fast bowler Brian Stanlake on 20, off Mills.
However, he kept his focus by reaching the half-century mark in 32 balls. The presence of Maxwell (43no, 22b) only stepped up the pace of the chase.
DE VILLIERS’ MAGIC
Earlier, de Villers replaced Chris Gayle – 25 runs short of 10,000 T20 runs --- in the Bangalore line-up, but nobody was complaining. He almost single-handedly took Bangalore close to the 150-mark.
Kings XI Punjab bowlers reduced RCB to 22/3 in five overs. Left-arm spinner Patel dismissed Shane Watson for the fourth time, Sandeep Sharma got Vishnu Vinod and Aaron picked the dangerous Kedar Jadhav.
De Villiers and Mandeep hit the occasional bounadaries but relied more on singles and twos. Bangalore reached 53/3 in 10 overs. Their 46 run-stand in 49 balls was broken in the 14th over, after a brilliant catch by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha.
De Villiers reached his 22nd IPL half-century in just 34 balls.
BIGGEST WEAPON
Rashid’s biggest weapon is a disguised googly that left Gujarat Lions’ Brendon Mccullum and Aaron Finch clueless, both trapped leg before in the ninewicket loss. Gujarat skipper, Suresh Raina too fell lbw, to a leg break for a change.
VVS Laxman, Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor, interviewed Rashid Khan for the official IPL website on Sunday, hailing the teenager’s confidence and skill. He spoke about Rashid’s mystery factor. Rashid took two top-order wickets in the 35-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening game before claiming 3/19 against Gujarat Lions, bowling in the powerplay overs.
Laxman revealed it wasn’t just rival batsmen who were finding it tough to decipher Rashid’s variations. His compatriot and IPL teammate Mohammad Nabi too has confessed to struggling in the nets. Even Sunrisers Hyderabad wicketkeepers are clueless.
Laxman said: “Even in the practice sessions, none of our batsmen are able to pick him. In fact, we had our wicketkeepers Naman Ojha and Eklavya Dwiv edi do two practice sessions with him just to see if they were able to pick his wrong ’uns and other variations. Both were a bit clue less as to which way the ball was going. I don’t want to discuss his variations because this is just the start of the tournament and we want him to be a puzzle.”
Asked by Laxman how it felt to be handed the ball in the phase when field restrictions are on Rashid said: “He asked me to bow in the powerplay in the firs match as well and I did a pretty decent job. I took that confidence into this game. Warner asked me to bowl freely, without any inhi bitions or second thoughts. He told me, ‘Rashid give it your bes and don’t worry about going for runs’. I just did that and got suc cess.”
He added: “Warner asked me to wrap up the powerplay overs without giving away much. Tha kind of a mindset helped me ge wickets in the process.”