Royal Challengers Bangalore have defeated Guajrat Lions in the first qualifier match of Vivo Indian Premier League 2016 to qualify for final match. RCB won by 4 wickets with 10 balls remaining in the innings. AB De Villiers scored unbeaten 79 runs in 47 balls to guide his towards tricky 160 runs target. For this inning, he was awarded man of the match.
Winning the toss, RCB put Gujarat Lions to bat. GL got worst start that they never thought on this typical M. Chinnaswamy wicket. They lost 3 batsmen on 9 runs score and were in huge trouble in this crucial knockout. Dwayne Smith and Dinesh Karthik built solid partnership and played good shoots to help the side to get some hope to score runs. Smith was unstoppable and scored brilliant fifty to lead towards respectable total of 158 in 20 overs.
It was not a difficult target for RCB in their home conditions and they batting has been performing in the tournament. But team lost 5 wickets on 29 runs score and game was almost over the them. Still the only hope and big hope AB De Villiers was on the crease. He didn’t let down anyone’s hopes and sealed 4 wickets victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Match Summary
Toss: RCB won toss and chose to bowl first.
Gujarat Lions innings: 158 runs in 20 overs for 10 wickets loss (Smith-73, Karthik-26, Watson-4 wickets)
Royal Challengers Bangalore innings: 159 runs in 18.2 overs for 6 wickets (De Villiers,79*, Abdulla-33*)
Result: RCB won by 4 wickets
Player of the match: AB De Villiers (RCB)
