BENGALURU: Roads leading to Chinnaswamy Stadium were packed, with fans having painted their faces in red and black.
They were in queues hours before play. The excited fans had ‘RCB, RCB’ chants even before they got inside the venue. Such craze was understandable, with Royal Challengers Bangalore playing their first home game of the season, against Kings XI Punjab on Friday.
The decibel levels reached another level when Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli won the toss, and asked Kings XI to bat first.
But, the loudest cheers were reserved for the winning moment when Washington Sundar struck the ball through the off-side for a boundary, and the home team flags started fluttering in the crowd. It was not an easy win for the Challengers, who managed to win their first match of the season in the last over.
Kings XI had come with a clear strategy, not allowing the top order of the home team to settle down after being dismissed for 155.
The visitors used four bowlers in the first six overs, three of them spinners. Their ploy worked initially, with Challengers losing big guns Brendon McCullum (0) and Kohli (21), which pushed them on to the backfoot.
However, AB De Villiers was in a league of his own. Despite the dismissal of the big two, he struck a 54-run partnership with Quinton de Kock before the wicketkeeper-batsman fell for 45 runs.
With Sarfaraz Khan out for a golden duck, RCB were in spot of bother. New man Mandeep Singh (22) gave De Villiers company.
The South African did not take chances but opened up his shoulders in the last six overs, when 56 runs were required.
The game changed in the 17th over when Afghanistan’s Mujeeb Ur Rahman was hit for 19 runs, bringing down the equation to 22 runs from 18 balls. Despite getting out in the 19th over, the maestro had more or less done the job with a 40-ball 57. The Challengers’ lower order saw the team home.
The Challengers need to thank their bowlers, who did a superb job in the first innings. They played an important role in restricting the visitors to a decent total on a batting deck. Had it not been for the fourth over of the match, where Umesh Yadav dismissed Mayank Agarwal, Aaron Finch and Yuvraj Singh in a space of six balls, things could have been different.
All their bowlers, including Kulwant Khejroliya and Washington, who took two wickets each, should be applauded for containing runs. They did come under pressure at times, but held their nerve when it mattered. Though Kings XI’s KL Rahul hit a 30-ball 47, it was ABD, who had the final laugh. No wonder that chants of ‘ABD, ABD’ are famous at Chinnaswamy.
Brief scores: KXIP 155 in 19.2 overs (Rahul 47, Ashwin 33, Umesh 3/23, Washington 2/22, Khejroliya 2/33, Woakes 2/36) lost to RCB 159/6 in 19.3 overs (De Villiers 57, De Kock 45, Ashwin 2/30).
ashim.sunam@newindianexpress.com