IPL 2018 - RCBvSRH: Royal Challengers remain in Play-Off hunt as AB de Villiers stars in 14-run win

Resurgent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) held their nerves and overcame a blistering counter attack by Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) captain Kane Williamson (81, 42b, 7x4, 5x6) to register a 14-run win in do-or-die Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.

A third-wicket partnership of 135 runs between Williamson and Manish Pandey (62, 38b, 7x4, 2x6) took Sunrisers close to the difficult target of 219 runs but did not prove to be good enough in the end. Needing 20 runs off the last over, being bowled by RCB's Mohammed Siraj, Williamson scooped it and the ball went high only to land in the hands of Colin de Grandhomme at deep fine leg.

What followed in the next five balls were improvisations that failed and couple of hits and misses. Adding to the drama was an easy catch that RCB captain Virat Kohli dropped. However, the match by then was all but over and Sunrisers needed 16 runs off the last ball and they managed only one.

RCB had a shoddy day in the field and spilled chances and mis-fielded too. However, a superlative catch by AB de Villers at the fence ensured that Alexander Hales walks back to the pavillion.

Earlier, de Villiers and Moeen Ali smashed quickfire half-centuries to propel RCB to an imposing 218 for six . Sent into bat, De Villiers (69 off 39) and Ali (65 off 34) overcame a bad start to stitch 107 runs off just 57 balls for the third wicket to set the platform for RCB's total.

Afghanistan's leg-spinner Rashid Khan once again shone bright with the ball for Sunrisers with figures of 3/27 from his four over. But Sunrisers were off to a great start as they reduced RCB to 38 for two inside five overs after opting to field.

Sandeep Sharma (1/40) struck the first blow with the last ball of the opening over, removing Parthiv Patel caught by Siddharth Kaul at third man boundary. De Villiers then got into the act for RCB, hitting some exquisite boundaries off Shakib Al Hasan and Sandeep before Rashid cleaned up skipper Virat Kohli (12) with a googly in the fifth over.

Brought into the attack in the eighth over, Basil Thampi leaked runs as Ali smashed consecutive sixes off the pacer -- first over mid-off and then over square-leg boundary -- to give momentum to RCB's innings. De Villiers brought up his fifty off 32 balls with two consecutive boundaries off Kaul (2/44) in the 12th over and then Ali followed suit notching up his maiden IPL half-century with a four of Thampi in the next over.

The duo went hammer and tongs as an otherwise tidy Sunrisers bowling attack looked clueless in front of the onslaught. But just when it seemed the duo would run away with their power-hitting, Rashid struck twin blows in the 15th over removing both the set batsmen.

De Villiers perished in search of a big shot caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep square leg while Ali reverse-paddled a delivery to Sreevats Goswami behind the stumps a ball later. While De Villiers struck as many as 12 fours and one six, Ali's innings was laced with two boundaries and six hits over the fence.

Thereafter, Colin de Grandhomme used his brute power to score 40 runs off just 17 balls while Sarfaraz Khan remained unbeaten on 22 off 8 balls to provide the late impetus to RCB's innings. It turned out to be a forgettable day for Thampi as he conceded the most runs by a bowler in an innings in the history of IPL. He leaked 70 runs from his dour overs.

(Inputs from PTI)