RR vs RCB, 33rd Match at Dubai, IPL, Oct 17 2020 - Match Result

6:04pm And that is all from here. Head over to the other match, Delhi Capitals v CSK, where Tushar Deshpande has already dismissed Sam Curran for a duck.

AB de Villiers: Extremely happy. I felt we bowled as well as we could have. Leaked some runs, no-balls which usually Yuzi doesn't do. Went in feeling we gave away 15-20 too much. But Virat and I spoke that we string together some partenrships and then go ahead. I'm very very nervous and erratic [in chase] and I get very stressed like any player. I want to perform for the team and show the owners I'm here for a good reason. And family, fans, and also for myself. Last game I didn't perform my role as well as I should have, but this time I did. It's a cat and mouse game, I always respect the bowlers. If they bowl well to me, they'll have the upper hand. I didn't hit even one of them [sixes] off the middle. When Unadkat was bowling, I was looking leg side but to be honet I was nervous because I knew I had to hit it well. Luckily I got a few away. we've had some good games and we've had some average games as well, let's not kid ourselves. There's a reason we're not at the top of the table.

AB de Villiers is the Man of the Match.

Kohli:The individuals are stepping up and we've been done that all through the tournament, which is why we have 12 points. Very happy right now because after this we get three days off. To be honest, you're always tense in chase because you're not sure how many balls AB is going to get. Credit to Gurkeerat as well, he stuck with AB, got that important boundary. It doesn't matter who the bowler is, he does what he does. AB is always been someone who's been ready to look at the situation and adapt his game accordingly. In my eyes he's the most umpactful player in the IPL. If he goes, the opposition know they have a slim chance and there's a good reason for that. It's purely because of the presence of someone like him that teams feel we are never out of the team. [Opening?] No our game pattern is very clear. Young Dev has batted beautifully, finchy has played some impact innings. We understand the dynamics and we're sticking to our plans. The bowling has really stepped up this season. Looks we're gonna be put under pressure but the guys have come back strongly. Morris has been brilliant, just that energy he brings. Saini, Washy and Isuru as well, the bowling has come together well.

Morris:I think we bowled as well as we could have. It still blows my mind how AB is so calm and hits it so far. I think we maybe gave a bit too many extras today. A bit of street smarts at the end might have made a difference but it was a good wicket, we'll take the win and run with it. I think the wickets are getting a bit tired and bit slow. Like I said, just being a bit street smart with slower balls, boundries, yorkers that sort of stuff. I said to a few of the Rajasthan boys, I know you lost but sometimes it doesn't matter which side you're on, you can only go wow [when AB is batting].

Smith: Sure is a hard pill to swallow. Just got AB'd there. That's two in a row we were in the box seat to win but didn't. Disappointing. I think it was a good score on a slow wicket. I thought we built the pressure pretty well and it took a pretty special innings to take RCB home. We wanted to use Jaydev to the bigger boundary, he bowls a lot of slower stuff into the wicket. Obviously boundary not big enough for AB. [On his batting] Nice to spend a bit of time in the middle and get a bit of rhythm.

Arjun: "Much like Messi in football, AB makes the impossible look simple. And he does it with such regularity and such ease, it ceases o surprise you. "

Dennis Daniel: "Somebody please please tell the captain Smith that when you have better bowlers than Jaydev. Wish Smith the Aus Captain turned up. You have two good leggies in Gopal and Mayank Markande then select both especially when both Kohli and ABD are not strong against leg spin. Instead you keep persisting with Jaydev season after season. Uffff!! Tough to be RR fan:("

Mohsin: "He batted at 6 in previous match. SMH"

5:39pm Finished with two balls to spare and RCB climb to 12 points. Rajasthan had this in the bag for long periods, but they've given that man AB de Villiers an opening right at the end and paid for it massively. That last six also brought up de Villiers' fifty, by the way, off 22 balls. RCB learnt from their mistakes after sending him down at 6 in the last match. Today, he came in with the scoring rate drying up and two wickets falling in the matter of a few deliveries. But he brought both calm and impetus to the innings, even as Royals had Gurkeerat struggling at the other end. But most importantly, he brought six sixes and a four, a boundary ratio that made the difference on an evening when RCB weren't getting too many boundaries. What a knock.

Jofra has to defend 11 in the last over. Gurkeerat on strike. Is he going short and fast to collect a dot ball or two at the start of the over? Mid-off is in. So is point.

Dezz: "Poor captaincy from Smith. Basic rule of a close T20 chase is your best bowler bowls the 19th!!"

Going back over the wicket

Stays around the wicket

Kaushal: "Shouldn't your best bowler be bowling the 19th over? "

Purv Negandhi: "'Cometh the hour, cometh the man,' AB, you absolute beauty"

23 off 10 now. On-air chat already about whether Jofra should have bowled this over.

Pretty good over there from Tyagi, Smith will take 10 from that. Here's Unadkat for the 19th.

Reetam Mitra: "@Varun: How do you compare Padikkal to Gill? Sid Monga called it right weeks ago by saying that T-20 is not Gill's best format ." --- Wouldn't go the same path with Padikkal yet given all his major heroics have been in the shortest formats