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Wednesday 25 May 2016

IPL2016 AB Devilliers Houdini Act Pushes RCB To Finals v GL

#IPL2016
#Qualifier1
#RCB vs #GL
Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

What a game!!

Roller coaster fortunes - one side on top for a while, the other gets on top for a while, then the first one and so on.... The game twisted and turned dramatically to give us our first #Finalist at #IPL2016.

Playing at home and in serious form, #RCB were firm favorites in this match although #GLions were ahead of them in the points table. Their weakness, bowling, is coming full circle and delivering on the back of some extraordinary batting performances from their top order.

#ViratKohli won the toss and expectedly put the #Lions into bat. Knowing very well that #Finch and #Baz #McCullum were going to come strong at them, he employed a surprise move to counter them. #Abdulla, the left arm spinner was employed in 2nd over. 

Voila ... immediate results. Baz misread the flight and smashed one down #AB's throat and three balls later #Finch edged one to slips where Gayle's bucket hands sunk the ball in. In walked skipper #SureshRaina under a lot of pressure. Two overs later, Watson employed Raina's bete noire, the rising bouncer, and induced a miscued pull to #Fineleg where #Aravind took a good low catch.

9 for 3 in 4 overs.
Round 1 to RCB. 
Huge advantage with all biggies back in the hut.

However, experienced heads in #DineshKarthik and #DRSmith got together to start the repair act. Smith was aggressive while Karthik circumspect. Together they added 85 runs 10 overs to balance things out. Smith was really aggressive against Watson, Chahal and Abdulla.

94 for 3 in 13.4 overs
Round 2 to GL
Parity restored.

After the customary #StrategicTimeOut, #ChrisJordan struck for RCB castling Karthik. 
#Jadeja and #DRSmith didn't last long either both perishing to Watson's experience.

115 fo 6 in 16.3 overs
Round 3 to RCB
GL slumped from a good platform to survival yet again.

The final push depended on #Bravo. He was joined by #Dwivedi who played a refreshing quickfire knock to boost the GL score. He smashed two sixes off Watson before holing it out to long on. Bravo followed him rightaway but some swinging by #DhawalKulkarni ensured GL managed to garner 158 from their allotted 20 overs. Neither below nor above par. These totals make games interesting.

158 all out in 20 overs. DR Smith - lnychpin of that innings.
Advantage RCB with their long batting lineup.
Don't count the GL just yet though. They have topped the league stages and know how to handle these situations.

The sight of #Gayle and #Kohli coming out to bat can send jitters down opposition bowlers' spines.
With 159 to get, they were in no hurry to blast away. 
But, #DhawalKulkarni had different ideas.

He steamed in to induce a false shot from #KillerKohli back onto his stumps for naught! The unthinkable had happened. Virat's first duck in 51 innings and what a time to get it? Qualifier1 of the IPL? He had not added anything to his season total of 919.

In his very next over, #Dhawal inflicted more damage. First he castled Gayle with a beautiful yorker on off stump and the very next ball foxed #KLRahul to edge behind to slips. 25 fo 3. 

Raina smartly got #Jadeja against #Watson and was rewarded immediately. Watto smashed hit one down DR Smiths throat while in the next over, Dhawal account for #SachinBaby too. 

29 for 5 in 5.3 overs.
Round 4 to GLions
RCB in complete disarray and looking down the barrel.

#AB their only hope now was joined by #StuartBinny. Binnuy swung his bat a bit to add some quick runs to get the momentum going, but was out soon after when #Jadeja trapped him leg-before right after a #StrategicTimeOut. 

68 for 6 in 9.4 overs.
Round 5 to GL
All but over for RCB unless AB delivers a magical innings.

And he set out doing just that with help of #Abdulla.
With rain looming large, he choose to attack the bowling while Abdulla got his eye in.

Together they crossed, 75, 100, 125 and 150. 
AB the ravage boundary hitter while Abdulla the touch master.
Raina tried every trick in the book to outsmart #AB but Dhawal's spell was already over, Jakati was disappointing while Bravo and Kumar were also taken for runs. 

When Abdulla hit the winning runs, the RCB conttingent poured out on the field congratulating AB and Abdulla on their Houdini act. What looked like a dead and buried game 10 overs ago, beacame theirs. RCB had qualified for the IPL finals! 

Raina looked dejected but admitted they lost to better team while Kohli looked relieved considering the horrendous position they were in.

Man of the Match: A B Devilliers

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