Yuvraj Singh slammed a superb 83 (38b, 7x4, 7x6) and AB De Villiers 58 (32b, 1x4, 5x6) to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore to 190 for five in 20 overs after they won the toss and and walked their way into deep trouble at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
They put on 132 runs for the fourth wicket in 10.3 overs with a flurry of fours and sixes before Yuvraj was out leg before to Kane Richardson and De Villiers flung James Faulkner to Ajinkya Rahane in the covers. The last five overs yielded 84 runs.
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Skipper Virat Kohli opened the innings with Chris Gayle. The big Sunday crowd was ecstatic when he pulled Richardson to mid-wicket for four. But two balls later, he top edged one outside off and Rajat Bhatia at deep third man clutched it gleefully.
Gayle and Vijay Zol came together but Gayle, after a couple of fours, left soon as he edged Pravin Tambe’s googly to wicket-keeper Sanju Samson. As if that shock wasn’t enough, Zol left too edging Tewatia, the 20-year-old Haryana lad, to Shane Watson in the slips. At 46 for 3, Bangalore were staring down the barrel.
De Villiers and Yuvraj lent some substance to the otherwise crumbling batting with the Indian southpaw slamming Tambe for two fours in the same over as Bangalore limped to 57 for three.
The lefthander then hoisted Tambe over midwicket for six and slammed Bhatia over almost the same position on the other side for another maximum. At 84 for three after 13 overs, Bangalore were considerably better placed. De Villiers was rather quiet making just 12 off 15 deliveries, in singles and twos.
Yuvraj reached his 50 off 24 balls, clouting Richardson over deep midwicket, his favourite spot, for a huge six as he guided his team towards a fighting total. He gave him the same treatment for another six as Bangalore posted 123 for three after 16 overs.
Yuvraj had a six and a four in Shane Watson’s nine-ball over after three wides. De Villiers opened up later and sent Faulkner to the roof off two successive deliveries.