De Villiers fifty drives RCB home after bowlers bowl KXIP out for 155

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to field first against the Kings XI Punjab in match eight of the eleventh edition of IPL at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

AB de Villiers showed his class with a fantastic half-century to drive the Royal Challengers home with four wickets in hand against Kings XI Punjab to get off the mark in IPL 2018.

De Villiers scored well-compiled 57 off 40 balls and Qunton de Kock scored a 45 at the top of the order that helped RCB chase down the 156-run target with three balls to spare.

Kings XI did have their moments though, especially when Ashwin struck of successive deliveries removing the well settled de kock and young Sarfraz Khan to bring them right back into match, reducing RCB to 81 for four.

Just then de Villiers came to the fore and took control of the chase with a superb innings. He opened his arms only after the equation came down to more than a run a ball in the final four overs.

He was unfortunately out for 57 but in the end they got home.

KXIP innings

Umesh Yadav’s fiery spell broke the backbone of the Kings XI Punjab as Royal Challengers Bangalore bowled them out for 155 in their first home match of IPL 2018 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Kings XI Punjab also became the first side to be bowled out inside 20 overs in this season.

Put into bat, KXIP were reduced to 36 for 3 in the fourth over after Umesh (3/23) dismissed Mayank Aggarwal (15), Aaron Finch (0) and Yuvraj Singh (4) in the space of six balls in his second over to leave the visiting side in trouble early in their innings.

Agarwal edged the first ball of the fourth over to wicketkeeper Quiton to Kock before Australian Finch was trapped LBW in the next delivery. Yuvraj was out in the final ball of that over as it went through his gate to knock off the middle stump.

Umesh Yadav 3 Wicket In A Over Spell Video Vs KXIP: https://t.co/CtJZbDy6Jb via @YouTube

— Himanshu Goel (@Himansh21917924) April 13, 2018

Umesh's pace colleague Kulwant Khejroliya and Chris Woakes and off-spinner Washington Sundar then took over in the later part of the KXIP innings with two wicket apiece as the visiting side could not even complete their allotted 20-over quota as they were all out in 19.2 overs.

For KXIP, only Lokesh Rahul put up some resistance as he hit 47 off just 30 balls at the top of the order with the help of two fours and four sixes. Captain Ravichandran Ashwin contributed 33 off 21 balls while Karun Nair made 29.

The visiting side had two periods of batting collapse -- one at the start when Umesh grabbed three quick wickets and the other after Rahul was out in the 12th over.

The KXIP innings, however, began with a bang with Rahul taking 16 runs from the opening over bowled by Woakes whom he hit for a four and two sixes. Rahul's aggression kept the run rate high despite losing wickets as KXIP reached 84 for 3 at the halfway mark.

But just as he was settling down with Nair and nearing his half century, Rahul fell to Sundar as he top-edged while trying for a slog-sweep for Sarfaraz Khan to take a catch.

Nair did not survive long as he fell to Khejroliya in the 13th over leaving KXIP to 102 for 5 at that stage. MP Stoinis (11) became Sundar's second victim in the next over before Axar Patel (2) was trapped lbw by Khejroliya for just two runs in the 15th over.

At the end of 15th over, KXIP were 122 for 7 and they could add 33 more runs at the expense of three wickets thanks to Ashiwn's 21-ball 33 which was laced with three fours and a six.

Toss Report

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to field first against the Kings XI Punjab in match eight of the eleventh edition of IPL at Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

This is RCB’ first match in front of their home crowd and they have come in numbers to get behind their heroes. Despite the large support, Chinnaswamy has not been the most happy hunting ground for Bangalore. They won only one match in the previous edition. However Kohli hopes the luck will change and it will start with the KXIP.

“I think the crowd thinks the match is decided on the basis of the toss. Looks like this pitch is back to normal, hence the decision to bowl first. It's the same team that played last match. It's good to be back here and the crowd looks excited always. The aim of any good side in the tournament is to play well at home,” says Kohli.

The visitors have made one change to the side. Australian opener Aaron Finch, who has joined the squad after his marriage, comes straight into the playing XI in place of South Africa’s David Miller.

“I think it's important to start well and put up a par score. It's very important to have wickets in hand while batting first. I think we have enough bowling ammunations to put them under pressure. We have one team change, Finch comes in the place for Miller. He deserves to come in the team right away,” says Ashwin.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock(w), Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): Lokesh Rahul(w), Mayank Agarwal, Yuvraj Singh, Aaron Finch, Karun Nair, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin(c), Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma, Mujeeb Ur Rahman