Kickstarting their campaign with the most unexpected decision and a roaring win to boost their confidence, the Royal Challengers Bangalore drubbed Delhi Daredevils by 8 wickets with 20 balls to spare. On Thursday, RCB registered a big win and a bigger morale booster, chasing down 145 with ease.
RCB came up with the biggest surprise of not fielding the explosive Chris Gayle in their playing XI. Their openers Parthiv Patel and Maddinson couldn’t even make it through to the second over, with Shami striking first blood, removing Maddinson for 4. This brought Virat Kohli into the middle, who, with Patel, took RCB to 60/1 in 8 overs, but Patel soon had to take the long walk back, after being dismissed by Rahul for 37 off 28. Yuvraj Singh joined Kohli in the middle, and together, Virat 49(38), and Yuvraj 52(29) steered the team to a royal win.
Earlier, the Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and invited the Delhi Daredevils to bat first. Mayank Agarwal and Murali Vijay opened the proceedings for MI, keeping up the momentum till the third over, when Mayank Agarwal fell to Starc scoring 6 off 10, his desperation getting the better of him. Â Three balls later, he walked back scoring a duck.
Tiwari made a painful guest appearance, joining Karthik in the dugout scoring 1. At this stage, the Daredevils were languishing at 17/3 in 4.1 overs. JP Duminy, the next man in teamed up with Vijay to totter till the 7th over, but unfortunately for the Daredevils, Vijay walked back too, falling to Chahall, scoring 18 off 20 deliveries. Duminy 67(48) and Taylor 43(39) took the Daredevils to 145/4.
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