De Villers magic fires RCB to thrilling win

Rajasthan Royals called the shots for large portions of the game but got onto the receiving end of another AB de Villiers masterclass to concede defeat. The Royal Challengers Bangalore talisman smashed six sixes in an unbeaten 22-ball 55 as RCB chased down 178 with two balls to spare for their sixth win of the season.

The game changed...

...only in the 39th over of the match. The Royals had bossed the defence, pushing RCB into a corner and asked them to get 35 off the final two overs. Jofra Archer could have pushed that equation further, but Steve Smith entrusted Jaydev Unadkat to bowl the 19th. It proved to be a massive tactical mis-step as de Villiers launched into the left-armer's cutters, hitting sixes off the first three balls of the over, over mid-wicket, long on and square leg. Gurkeerat Mann, struggling until then on a tricky pitch, added another boundary to complete a 25-over rout. Archer had only 10 to defend in his over and de Villiers finished it off with two to spare with a six and a fist bump as his teammates poured into the field to serenade him.

And, AB batted at...

No. 4.

The chase got tricky because...

...of RCB's double go-slow. A troubling pattern for RCB this season has been their middle-overs batting. Before this game, they scored a league-low rate of 6.9 through the middle phase. Kohli has struggled to force the pace through the middle, striking at a paltry 109.2. Unfortunately for RCB, the go-slow has been two prong. Against Kings XI Punjab, it was Kohil-Sundar and Kohli-Dube. Here it was Kohli-Padikkal, who went 23 balls without a boundary after the PowerPlay before Kohli pulled Shreyas Gopal for a six off the last ball of the 10th over.

Padikkal, in particular, first lost his breath with all the running between the wickets and then lost his timing. He eventually hit a Rahul Tewatia ball down long-on's throat to fall for a 37-ball 35. Kohli, who did his best to up the scoring rate this time around, fell off the immediate next delivery (start of the Kartik Tyagi over) to a lovely catch on mid-wicket boundary from Tewatia, who completed a neat toss and step routine. The required rate had jumped above 12. But AB was still around and once more, he was the difference.