IPL 2020 Preview match 15 & 16 – Royal Challengers Bangalore & Delhi Capitals Win
Updated: 06/10/2024
IPL 2020 Preview – Match 15 – October 3, 2020 – Abu Dhabi
Rajasthan Royals 154 for 6 (Lomror 47, Tewatia 24*, Chahal 3-24) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 158 for 2 (Padikkal 63, Kohli 72*, Archer 1-18) by 8 wickets
Virat Kohli struck form for the first time in the IPL 2020 as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coasted to a very comfortable victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Abu Dhabi on Saturday afternoon.
This is the Bangalore team's best start since 2013 as they registered their third win from the 4 games they have played so far.
Steven Smith won the toss and chose to bat, which seemed the correct decision given the hot and humid conditions prevailing in Abu Dhabi.
However the Royals could not take advantage of the toss as Smith, Joss Butler and the in-form Sanju Samson all departed with scores of 5, 22 and 4 respectively, leaving the RR innings tottering at 31 for 3 with barely four overs gone.
Wickets fell at regular intervals as Robin Uthappa (17) and Riyan Parag (16) departed with the scoreboard reading 105 for 5 and only 4.1 overs left to go.
Mahipal Lomor played a defiant knock of 47 that had three sixes before he holed up a catch to Devdutt Paddikal off Yuzvendra Chahal. With the score at 114 for 6, cameos from Rahul Tewatia (24 from 12 deliveries) and Joffra Archer (16 from 10 balls) took the score past 150 as the RR innings closed at 154 for 6 from the stipulated 20 overs.
RCB's containment of the strong RR batting line-up was a result of a brilliant spell of leg-break bowling from Chahal who ended up with impressive figures of 3 for 24.
Bangalore lost Aaron Finch early in the chase when he was trapped LBW by Shreyas Gopal for 8. But that was the only success Royals got for some time as Padikkal and Kohli tore into the rival attack.
Padikkal got his third fifty of IPL 2020 as he contributed a majestic 63, laced with 6 hits to the fence and a six. Kohli at the other end was at his best as he took his side over the line, remaining unbeaten on a majestic 72 from 53 balls (7 fours & 2 sixes).
For the Royals, Joffra Archer was the only bowler who impressed giving away just 18 runs from his 4 overs and scalping the important wicket of Palikkal while fast bowlers Shreyas Gopal and Tom Curran were taken to the cleaners.
IPL 2020 Preview – Match 16 – October 3, 2020 – Sharjah
Delhi Capitals 228 for 4 (Iyer 88*, Shaw 66, Pant 38, Russell 2-29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 210 for 8 (Rana 58, Morgan 44, Tripathi 36, Nortje 3-33) by 18 runs
For the third time in as many games, both teams crossed the 200-mark as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fell short by 18 runs as they chased a target of 228.
Delhi Capitals posted the highest total of IPL 2020 thanks to robust contributions from the trio of Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant.
Both teams made selections to suit the challenges of playing in the high-scoring Sharjah ground. KKR left out the wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav and played Rahul Tripathi to give themselves more depth in their batting.
The Capitals brought back R Ashwin, who had earlier dislocated his shoulder in their opener, to replace spinner Axar Patel – with the view to countering three left-handers in the Knight Riders top six.
Alsols subbed out was Ishant Sharma, a powerplay specialist with the ball, for Harshal Patel, a slow bowler who can also resort to big hitting.
Sent in to bat by KKR, Shikhar Dhawan breezed to 26 off 16 before he was dismissed with the score at 56.
Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer put on 73 for the 2nd wicket with the former contributing a stroke-filled 66 from 41 balls.
The 3rd wicket partnership of 72 between Iyer and Rushab Pant took only 5 overs with some really big hitting by Iyer whose 88 came off just 38 balls with 7 fours and 6 sixes in it.
Rushab Pant's cameo of 38 came off 17 balls and was laced with 5 fours and one six as the DC innings finished at a mammoth 228 for 3.
The total didn't seem entirely safe at the innings break, considering the hitting capabilities of the Kolkata Knight Riders.
With the talented Shubman Gill (28) and Nitish Rana (58) dismissed after a couple of useful knocks KKR were 117 for 4 from 12.4 overs.
Even with the Knight Riders needing 135 from 61 balls with their most lethal hitter, Andre Russell, back in the pavilion for a cheap 13, the DC target wasn't exactly safe.
But at one stage a little later KKR needed 78 from 24 balls, the task getting much harder. Eoin Morgan and Rahul Tripathi walloped 47 runs from overs 17 and 18 and suddenly the chase was blown wide open.
But the skill of South African fast bowler Anrich Nortje swung the game back the Capitals' way. Only five runs came off the 19th over, which also brought the wicket of Morgan.
When the Irishman left with the score at 200, his explosive innings of 44 came off just 18 balls and had 5 hits over the fence.
Tripathi (36 from 16 balls) departed seven runs later with the score reading 207 leaving just too many runs for KKR to score in the last over.
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