RCB's batting surges, Kings XI's subsides at the death

M Vijay has overcome the first tense period. That usual period where he and Kings XI Punjab have been losing their way, when boundaries dry up after Powerplay. After scoing eight off the 10 balls just after Powerplay, Vijay has managed to hit that six and has proceded to bat beautifully to reach the 80s.

It is a little unfair to talk of Vijay when their two big imports have done nothing of note, but until now Kings XI were the only side whose openers had never reached even 60. The openers of other sides have been setting games up and finishing them off. Given the ordinary form of the middle order this year, it is even more imperative that Vijay converts his starts, which he did today, and with some grace.

The next time Vijay is tense, though, is when Shane Watson comes back to bowl the 17th over. Recently he told the IPL website that his mindset is "very defensive" when he is bowling at the death. Stay away from where the batsman likes to hit. "Yorkers, cutters, slower ones, slower bouncers, bouncers - all these are important weapons. But it is also crucial to know when to bowl them. If the batsman is thinking you will bowl a slower one, you should know not to bowl it."

Here he comes to bowl the 17th with only 39 runs in the bank and with Vijay on 87 off 53. He knows he doesn't have a funny action, he doesn't bowl mystery balls, he doesn't have the pace and the swing, he is not an owner of freakishly loose joints. He has to do it with his brain. He can think like a batsman, and he just wants to do the opposite of what he would love a bowler to do for him.

In he runs, with fine leg and third man up, and bowls a slower bouncer outside off. Marcus Stoinis, struggling on 7 off 9, fails on the big upper-cut. This is the line you don't expect when the third man and point are up, which makes Stoinis' eyes light up, but the lack of pace does him in. The next ball is pulled away for a single, which brings Vijay on strike. Watson gives him a full ball just outside off, which is what he loved and chipped it over extra cover for two. This is the last ball Vijay will get to his liking.

Watson goes back, bowls the slower short ball outside off, and beats Vijay. Three off four balls, one can sense the tension again. Watson is playing with their minds. He is making them play to his pace, and there is no predictability to what he is doing. Watson again does what is not expected: a wide full ball at full pace and right on the guidelines for the wide. Vijay is in no position to play it. He tries a big hit, and misses. If Kings XI can have this over all over again, they will think bat on each ball, especially on a ground as big as Mohali where there is every chance of converting the better placed ones into twos.

Thirty-four off the last three with Vijay there is not that bad given Royal Challengers' bowling, but now every failed big hit is begetting another. The wise thing still is to look for a two, but you know Kings XI are going for the big hit. You can just tell. Watson senses it, bowls a slower bouncer at Vijay, making him hit into the big square boundary, into an area where he has protection, and gets Vijay out on 89. This is the shot of a man who hoped - doesn't believe - he can win this.

Sandeep Sharma has been one of the best with the yorkers in this season of the IPL. In all three of Kings XI's wins so far Sandeep - and Mohit Sharma - has played a part. He uses the whole width at the batting crease when he bowls yorkers, and also uses both angles - over and round the wicket - of his crease. A sign of his growing reputation is that his side has kept aside three overs for him in the last five. When he comes in to bowl, his side has done a decent job. Royal Challengers are only 113 for 3 after 15, but the challenge is that AB de Villiers is set. He is on 25 off 21.

Sandeep starts off well with a late swinging full ball. It goes for just one. Sachin Baby gets a single next ball. Now comes the ball, a yorker. This is the ball that has kept Chris Morris and Carlos Brathwaite quiet. Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan.

There is no reason for Sandeep to change his plan. He has just come up against genius. De Villiers hits it has hard as anyone down the ground, but that's not all he does. He picks the flight of the ball earlier than others, and has the time to play shots that take some outrageousness even to think of. He goes down on a knee to this yorker, meets it on the full, and sweeps it over square leg for six. Starting with that ball, having messed with bowlers' minds, de Villiers scored 38 off 12. This includes one intended slower bouncer from Mohit smacked over long-off for a six.

Farhaan Behardien and Stoinis harbour no fantasies of being compared with de Villiers. Yet after that Watson over they find themselves needing to score 37 in three overs. Yes one of these three overs is Watson's, but there are two ordinary overs to cash in on. Behardien gets one short and wide first ball from Chris Jordan for four, but the next three full tosses go for just three runs. Stoinis keeps them alive with a ramped four at the end of the 18th, but Watson drags Kings XI down again.

In the last over, Behardien and Stoinis need 17. Already Sandeep and Mohit must be thinking in the dugout how miserable it would have been for their batsmen had they bowled half as badly as Royal Challengers. There is another over from an off-rhythm Jordan to come. He starts with a juicy full toss on the pads. It reaches deep square leg on the bounce. One run. A hundred minutes ago, yorkers were being taken on the full and swept for six. Now full tosses are being patted for one.

In the end, the genius of de Villiers and the limited nature of Kings XI batsmen undo the hard work they put in during the first 15 overs of each innings.