IPL 2017 RCB vs GL: There was nothing Royal for Virat Kohli and his team.
IPL 2017 has been the game of uncertainty and surprises with underdogs emerging as winners and favorites tasting dust every now and then. Unfortunately, Royal Challengers Bangalore comes into the second category despite having one of the best pools of talent with them. Since the start of this tournament, almost a decade ago, RCB has been dependent on their batting attack and the same imbalance might have cost them the title once again.
Gujarat Lions vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, two of the least performing teams, M.Chinnaswamy Stadium and the host coming in after a humiliating defeat against KKR, all this hinted towards a comeback from the Virat Kohli-led team but what eventually happened was the clear opposite.
Gujarat Lions opted to bowl first and gave RCB a change to register a humongous total in the first innings. However, Chinnaswamy has had a different approach this year, giving bowlers a chance to shine with turn and bounce at offer. This might be the same reason that RCB has witnessed their worst home season and it continued in IPL 2017’s 31st Match.
Barring Kedar Jadhav (31 off 18) and Pawan Negi’s (32 off 19) knock, not even a single player managed to add some substantial runs to the innings. As a result, 135 runs was the target that the home team had to defend.
Watch Kedar Jadhav’s hat-trick of boundaries here
Andrew Tye’s spell of 3/12 was what triggered RCB’s downfall with Ravindra Jadeja too getting a couple of scalps under his belt (2/28).
Watch Andrew Tye demolishing RCB in just one over here
And in came Gujarat Lions’ arsenal with the blades.
Ishan Krishan (16) and Brendon McCullum (3) went cheap quite early in the innings but Suresh Raina (34* off 30) and especially Aaron Finch (72 off 34) derived Gujrat Lions to an easy win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Watch the Highlights including Aaron Finch’s ballistic innings here.
After playing eight matches in IPL 2017, Royal Challengers Bangalore now stands at the second last position with 6 defeats and 2 victories and if Virat Kohli’s men want to enter the qualifiers, they will have to win every single game left in IPL 2017 and to with an improved Net Run Rate. The task at hand is difficult but not impossible for RCB, but considering their current form, this might be the end of Royal Challengers’ expected dream-run in the 10th edition of Indian Premier League.