AB de Villiers’ show was seen as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 82 runs in Match 28 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) in Sharjah on Monday.

RCB v KKR | IPL 2020 Match 28 Highlights

After a 194/2 hit, RCB had the chance to strike early. But Navdeep Saini couldn’t hold on to a sharp return catch to get Shubman Gill out in his first game. The right arm pacemaker, however, managed to get his first wicket of the game when he sacked IPL debutant Tom Banton in game four when KKR lost their first wicket in the chase. However, KKR managed to score 43 runs in power play, with Gill scoring 26 of those runs.

However, over the course of the next couple of overs with Yuzvendra Chahal and Washington Sundar, RCB tightened the screws, picking four wickets within five overs.

First, Washington Sundar dismissed Nitish Rana in game eight after the left-handed player failed to perform his slog sweep. Shubman Gill was the next man to pull out after a misjudged single.

While Yuzvendra Chahal missed a wicket in his second game after Aaron Finch long dropped a catch, the leg spinner managed to get his first wicket after Dinesh Karthik pulled one back on the stumps in the eleventh game.

The next time Washington Sundar saw his second wicket, Eoin Morgan was caught on the short third man.

KKR needed the Andre Russell show to end the chase and while the all-rounder showed signs of growing up, hitting two fours and a six in the 14th over the bowling thrown by Isuru Udana, he died in the same game, after setting his shot incorrectly.

RCB picked two more wickets in the next two overs while KKR kept sliding. While Chris Morris fired Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti dropped out of Chahal’s bowling.

Mohammed Siraj joined the wicket party and sacked Rahul Tripathi after Morris made a staggering dive catch for a long time to make KKR stagger at 99/8. KKR was eventually limited to 112/9 when RCB scored an all-out 82-run win.

Previously, the two RCB openers rode after deciding to hit first. Aaron Finch decided to step back a few yards against the new ball and immediately put pressure on Pat Cummins. His opening partner Devdutt Padikkal also made the most friendly terms and sent the new ball to the border.

The RCB openers gained 47 points in the power play phase and KKR’s search for a breakthrough didn’t end until Russell occupied Padikkal (32) and uprooted his middle stump in his second round. RCB lost their first wicket for 67 and KKR then pulled things back, conceding 31 runs in the next four overs. At the halfway point of the innings, RCB reached 78/1.

The KKR bowlers took pace off the ball and the plan worked when they dried up the limits. Kamlesh Nagarkoti, who loves to roll fast, was effective with the slower ball and he was impressive in his duel against Virat.

When the pressure began to rise, Finch tried to attack and lost his stumps in a manner similar to Padikkal. This time it was Prasidh Krishna who chose the wicket. Finch was looking for a big score but came out four runs half a century ago.

Varun Chakravarthy, who has done his job calmly this season, had another good run when he played four tight overs for just 25 runs.

As in the previous game, Virat relied on runs and didn’t pick up his first limit until ball 25 and the 19th of the game. He could afford to do that when Lord 360 lit the Sharjah sky.

De Villiers stayed on his back foot to counter the slow balls and found the big hits almost immediately from the moment he walked out of the house. He attacked young Nagarkoti first and then brought up his 50 in just 23 balls using four limits and five sixes.

While KKR overtook by the 15th and only scored 111 runs, ABD made sure the momentum shifted and it was back in the RCB corner. In the last five overs, RCB racked up an incredible 83 runs to bring their total to almost 200. On his unbeaten stint with 33 balls, Mr. 360 hit six sixes and five limits. The Virat-ABD partnership remained unbroken with 100 of 47 balls.