Sharjah, (Samajweekly) Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli gave Royal Challengers Bangalore a rollicking start to reach 90 for no loss in first ten overs. But Shardul Thakur and Dwayne Bravo staged a comeback to restrict Bangalore to 156/6 in 20 overs in the UAE leg of IPL 2021 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.
Inserted in to bat first, Kohli slammed Deepak Chahar for back-to-back boundaries on the first two balls of the innings before Padikkal ended the opening over with a gorgeous cover drive. With the ball not doing much, Kohli and Padikkal were able to give Bangalore a blistering start, racing to 55 for no loss at the end of power-play with Deepak Chahar conceding 23 runs in two overs.
Padikkal was the first to reach his half-century, completing it in 35 balls with a boundary off Chahar in the 12th over. The boundary also brought a century for the opening partnership. It was also the second century stand between Kohli and Padikkal in the tournament after an unbeaten 181 against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai.
In the next over, Kohli reached his half-century, flicking Ravindra Jadeja through fine leg for a boundary. Kohli, who was at 33 off 21 balls at the end of the power-play, managed to get 20 runs off 20 balls before hitting straight to deep mid-wicket off Dwayne Bravo in the 14th over, ending the century stand at 111.
After Kohli’s dismissal, Chennai slowed down the run scoring despite Padikkal and AB de Villiers hitting a six each. Shardul Thakur made a big strike with de Villiers miscuing a slice and the top-edge flying to Suresh Raina at extra cover. One brought two for Thakur as Padikkal’s pre-mediated ramp went to hands of Bravo at short third man.
Debutant Tim David miscued a loft to Raina at extra cover, giving Chahar his first scalp of the match. Glenn Maxwell tried to give his team a big flourish, but miscued a slog to long-on in the final over off Bravo. Bravo dismissed Harshal Patel on the final ball of the innings to complete a last ten overs (66 runs for six wickets) fightback from Chennai.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 156/6 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 70, Virat Kohli 53, Dwayne Bravo 3/24, Shardul Thakur 2/29) against Chennai Super Kings
