Ahmedabad: AB de Villiers’ unbeaten knock of 75 runs off just 42 balls helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) post a score of 171/5 in the allotted twenty overs against Delhi Capitals here at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday.
Along with de Villiers, Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell also chipped in with knocks of 31 and 25. For Delhi Capitals, all the five bowlers used by skipper Rishabh Pant ended up taking one wicket each.
Asked to bat first, RCB lost its skipper Virat Kohli (12) in the fourth over of the innings as he was sent back to the pavilion by Avesh Khan. In the very next over, Devdutt Padikkal (17) was bowled by Ishant Sharma, and this reduced RCB to 30/2.
Glenn Maxwell and Rajat Patidar then came together at the crease and the duo formed a 30-run stand for the third wicket, but the partnership was broken by Amit Mishra in the 9th over as he dismissed Maxwell (25).
The right-handed batsman was looking to go for a maximum, but he ended up handing a simple catch to Steve Smith, reducing RCB to 60/3.
AB de Villiers next joined Patidar in the middle and the duo increased the tempo of run-scoring. Both batsmen mixed caution with aggression and stitched together a stand of 54 runs. Axar Patel finally ended Patidar’s (31) innings in the 15th over and RCB was reduced to 114/4.
De Villiers carried on his own in the final overs and helped RCB score 32 runs in the final two overs, taking the score past the 170-run mark.
Brief Scores:
RCB 171/5 (AB de Villiers 75*, Rajat Patidar 31, Avesh Khan 1-24) vs Delhi Capitals.