De Villiers steps in after rare Kohli failure, puts RCB into final

RCB skipper Virat Kohli fell for a duck, a rare failure this season, but de Villiers smashed 79 not out to power the team to a four-wicket win over Gujarat Lions for a place in the May 29 final in Bengaluru.

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s main challenge was always going to come when Virat Kohli misfired. To their dismay, it happened in the first knock-out game - Qualifier 1 -- of IPL 9 on Tuesday. After playing with extraordinary consistency, the RCB captain was bowled for a duck against Gujarat Lions at home, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli was upset with the umpire Kumar Dharmasena, who initially ruled that he had not taken a clean catch. Despite failing to score, he was beaming in the end after RCB clinched a final spot. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT Photo)

And the home fans’ fears came true with their top-order collapsing like a pack of cards. At 68 for six after 9.4 overs, RCB were down for the count, but with AB de Villiers at the crease, the contest was still on.

At 96 for six in 14 overs, the pressure was still on RCB, but the momentum changed in overs 15 and 16. Dwayne Smith was taken for 14 and spinner Shadab Jakati for 16, to bring down the equation to 33 off 24 balls. From there, with his name reverberating in the stands, de Villiers (79 not out) made it a cakewalk, powering RCB to a four-wicket win for a place in the final.

On a flat wicket, the batsmen were expected to prosper. But the start to both the innings was dramatic. First the Gujarat Lions’ top-order flopped and then pacer Dhawal Kulkarni stole the Bangalore superstars’ thunder with a magical opening spell of 4-1-14-4.

The pressure was on the Lions to defend a total of 158. Kulkarni was lucky to get Kohli, who played on. Though the pacer has bowled well this season, Tuesday’s spell took the cake. After living like a cat on a hot tin roof, Gayle was bowled. KL Rahul was done in by movement and Sachin Baby hit to covers.

With the mauling Lions suffered 10 days ago at the venue, it would have required an extraordinary effort to lift any team. In the first half, Lions showed little signs of a fight after being put in by Kohli.

RCB pushed the Rajkot team on the backfoot at the start as Kohli’s shrewd captaincy shone through. Instead of swing bowler Stuart Binny, he opened with left-arm pacer S Aravind and left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla. For Brendon McCullum, who has the penchant to charge out, the keeper stood up even against pace. For the spinner, instead of the usual long on and long off, or deep point, the two men outside the circle were wider, on the cover fence and midwicket.

The move paid off when McCullum stepped out and lofted Abdulla to de Villiers on the offside fence. Aaron Finch was caught in the slip in the same over. Skipper Suresh Raina was targeted with Watson and he flicked to short fine leg. After six overs, Gujarat were 23 for three.

Only Smith looked in control, providing the entertainment with six sixes in his 73 off 41 balls. Gujarat have one more chance to get into the final in their first season.