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Bengaluru: AB de Villiers and Iqbal Abdulla put on an unbroken 91 runs to help RCB into the final of IPL 2016 with a 4-wicket win against GL in Qualifier 1.
Dhawal Kulkarni needed just 1.3 overs to shatter the RCB top order.
AB de Villiers was the star of the show for RCB with an unbeaten 79, adding an invaluable undefeated 91 runs with No. 8 Iqbal Abdulla. Kulkarni nearly won the match for GL with figures of 4 for 14, accounting for Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, KL Rahul, and Sachin Baby, but in the end the genius of de Villiers won through.
The laws of reality finally caught up with Virat Kohli, who was bowled by Kulkarni for a 2-ball duck. Chris Gayle was then knocked over by Kulkarni for 9 and KL Rahul edged to Dwayne Smith at slip first ball.
RCB were now 25 for 3 in only 3.3 overs — a reflection of what happened to GL earlier in the match. With Kulkarni in the middle of a red-hot spell and wickets tumbling, the need of the hour was sensibility.
Shane Watson and Sachin Baby had other ideas though; Watson edged Ravindra Jadeja to Smith at slip for 1 while going for a big slog and Baby struck Kulkarni to Shadab Jakati for a duck. RCB were now in the mire at 29 for 5.
Stuart Binny a period of stability followed for RCB. With a composed de Villiers at one end, Binny started playing some percentage shots to regain some momentum for RCB. He struck 21 off 15 balls with 2 fours and 1 six before getting out LBW to Jadeja. Replays showed that Binny was struck outside the line of off stump and was unfortunate to be given out.
Iqbal Abdulla proved to be the perfect foil for de Villiers. Abdulla batted sensibly and with minimal risk. He ended up scoring the winning runs, remaining unbeaten on 33 off 25 balls while de Villiers played the match-winning innings to score an undefeated 79 off 47 deliveries.
Earlier, Iqbal Abdulla and Shane Watson reduced Gujarat Lions to 9 for 3 before Dwayne Smith made a brilliant counterattacking 73 that took his side to 158 all out.
Sreenath Aravind opened bowling and started well before Abdulla struck twice in the second over to take out both opening batsmen, Brendon McCullum and Aaron Finch. Watson then came on to bowl first-change and snapped up Suresh Raina as well to leave GL in the mire at 9 for 3.
Jordan had Dinesh Karthik bowled for a hard-working 26 off 30 balls. Smith kept going, but GL again started losing wickets at the other end. Ravindra Jadeja slashed to Gayle off Watson for 3 before Chahal finally got the big wicket of Smith, caught brilliantly by Kohli at long on. Smith had scored a potentially game-changing 73 off 41 balls.
The young Eklavya Dwivedi managed to hit a couple of sparkling shots before holing out to Kohli off Watson for 19 off 9 balls.
Brief scores
Gujarat Lions - 158 (Smith 73, Watson4-29)
Royal Challengers Bangalore- 159/6 (de Villiers 79*, Abdulla 33*, Kulkarni 4-14)
Result - Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 4 wickets
