RCB vs KKR, 28th Match at Sharjah, IPL, Oct 12 2020 - Match Result

That is it from us tonight. Virat Kohli said it. We were all witness to a genius at work tonight. AB de Villiers transcended everything today, and ruined what looked like a nicely set-up game of T20 in challenging conditions. It was crazy, and it was delightful. Do join us tomorrow, but we can't promise this level of batting everyday

AB de Villiers, the Man of the Match: "I am very happy with my performance. That's all I can say. I got a duck last game, that is a terrible feeling. I am very happy that I contributed. I surprised myself today to be honest. We were headed towards 140-150, and I thought I might try for 160-165, but I was surprised we reached 195. The margins are very small when Cummins and Russell are running in, and you need to use every bit of energy in you to keep the momentum going. I felt that energy in the bus already. Keeping is a different skill. I am working really really hard so that I am up to the mark. I want to be the best that there is."

Virat Kohli: "It is a tremendous win against a very strong side. Heading into a busy week for us, it was important to start off well. The bowling unit looks that much more potent with Chris Morris coming back. We were very happy with the total. This pitch was drier. And the day was pleasant so we thought there would be no dew. Barring one superhuman, every batsman struggled on the pitch. The talk was around getting 165, but we got 195 you know exactly why. It was unbelievable. I thought I had a few balls under my belt, and I might start striking. He just came in and struck the third ball, and said he felt good. I said you might see a lot of people do what is done in other games, but only AB can did what he did. It was a fabulous knock. We were looking at 160-165, and it was only thanks to his genius we got to 195. I was happy we could string together a partnership, and mine was the best seat to watch from."

Dinesh Karthik: "AB is a world-class player. He is hard to stop. He was the difference between the two teams. We tried everything. The only ball was the perfect inswinging yorker. Anything else was going. We need to sit down. There are a few things we need to do better. Even if we had restricted them to 175, there are a few things we need to do better the batting. Let's be honest. Every captain ahs a day when things don't go right. But there are a lot of good days I can remember as well, and I will want to stick on to them."

And Karthik did have a bad night at the wheel. Banton replacing a spinner and disturbing an opening combination made little sense. They needed an extra bowler. And then the absolute lack of intent from openers Gill and Banton was glaring. Gill will have to do some to live up to his reputation where people are already expecting him to be the next KKR captain. I have no doubts about him in the longer formats, but his intent in T20 worries me

**

That ends a dominant night for RCB. We have been really fortunate to watch one of those out-of-this-world innings by AB de Villiers that blew KKR, who had reason to be optimistic until then. The rest of the players scored 233 runs in 34.3 overs. That is a struggle at nearly a run a ball, but de Villiers smoked 73 off 33. Having said that, credit to RCB management. They were clear in their minds what they wanted to do, they read the pitch right at the toss, they read it right when it slowed down when they were batting, and they had a bowling attack to defend the total. Even without AB's sensational batting, I think RCB would have made KKR work hard if the target was even 165

Abhishek: "Inclusion of Morris seems to have filled that gap RCB had in their bowling lineup. One of the top T20 allrounders. "

Last over, last wicket. Krishna joins Varun. Udana to close out. Round the wicket

Vishal Pal: "Soft signal was out to finish this quickly"

From S Rajesh: "First instance in IPL history that three of the top-four batsmen facing 12+ balls at SR of under 70"

Amit: "Why am I still watching this match?"

Saini is back now