CRICKET99 Cricket Live Score ,Matches & Tournaments What a match that was yesterday, Full of drama and the result decided RCB as 1st finalist of IPL 2016. The occasion was Qualifier 1st between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Gujarat Lions at M Chinnaswamy Stadium ,Bengaluru in which RCB beat GL by 4 wickets with 10 balls to spare. By winning first play-offs Bangalore directly entered into the IPL 9 finals which will be played on 29th May 2016 on their home ground. The hero of the match was AB de Villiers and Iqbal Abdulla. They have made a partnership of 91 runs and took their team home. The match was full of drama and when everyone think that this team gonna win the game, it turns again. In the end a wonder full innings from AB de Villiers of 79 runs on just 47 balls with 5 massive sixes worked for his team. Check out full match report of the GL vs RCB match here.
Match Report :-
First Royal challengers Bangalore won the toss and as expected choose to bowl first. This time Aaron Finch came to open the innings with Brendon McCullum and in the second over of Iqbal Abdulla both the opener returned back to pavilion. In the 4th over captain Suresh Raina also caught on fine leg on a short pitch delivery of Shane Watson (the Purple Cap holder). On a score of 9 runs GL have lost top 3 batsman in 3.4 overs. Now all the responsibility came onto the shoulders of Dinesh Kartik and Dwayne Smith. They batted sensibly and added 85 runs together. But in 14th over Kartik bold by Chris Jordan. He scored 26 runs on 30 balls but Smith continue to bat in his style. He was on fire, scored 73 runs on 41 balls with 6 sixes and 5 fours. He was caught by Virat Kohli on a delivery of Yazuvendra Chahal. No one other than these two added good runs for the team and lower order batsman got out one by one. The whole team of Gujarat Lions got all out and in 20 overs they set up a fighting total of 158 runs at the lost of 10 wickets. Shane Watson took 4 wickets (4/29 in 4 overs) and 2 wickets was for Iqbal Abdulla (2/38 in 4 overs) .
The target was looking too small in front of RCB Batting line up. But in the 2nd over of Dhawal Kulkarni, Virat kohli got out when he was trying to drive a good length ball through covers but inside edge on to the stumps. The 4th over of the innings from Dhawal Kulkarni was one of the best of IPL 2016 he took 2 wickets, one of Chris Gayle and the second one of Lokesh Rahul and that was a maiden from him too. RCB was on back-foot and after 4 overs they lost 3 important wickets on a score of 25 runs. In the next over Shane Watson also dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja and RCB was in deep trouble. Only hope is the AB de Villiers who is holding one end. Wickets are continuously falling from other end. Then some good shots from Stuart Binny who was given lbw (bad decision from Umpire), RCB managed to score 68 runs on a loss of 6 wickets in 9.4 overs. de Villiers continued his sensible cricket and took his team score nearer to the target. A good innings played by Iqbal Abdulla who scored important 33 runs on 25 balls. In 18.2 overs RCB chased down 159 runs of target and entered into the IPL 2016 Finals. The credit goes to Innings of ABD of 79* runs on just 47 balls with 5 sixes and 5 fours. He was selected as Man of the Match for his match winning innings. It was a great bowling performance from Dhawal Kulkarni 4/14 in 4 overs. Ravindra Jadeja got 2 wickets in his spell.
RCB became the first team to qualify into the IPL 9 Final which will be played on 29th May 2016. Now Gujarat Lions will battle in Qualifier 2nd against the winner of Eliminator match (2nd play-off match)which will be played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders.
What You think who will be the 2nd finalist of IPL 2016 Final ? Share your thoughts in comments ..