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In the first of the doubleheaders on Sunday, the knights were blown away by AB storm, as RCB registered their 3rd straight win of the tournament. Outplaying KKR in all the departments, RCB never let their grip loosen on the game, eventually winning the match by 38 runs.

Electing to bat first the challengers were off to the worst possible start losing their first two wickets
in the second over of the match. KKR’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy spun his web to dismiss Virat Kohli (5 off 6 balls) and Rajat Patidar (1 off 2 balls) to reduce the score to 9/2 in his first over. Unfortunately, this proved to be his only moment of glory during the match as he ended up giving away 39 runs off his 4 overs without any further success.

In a consolidating 2nd wicket partnership of 86 runs, Devdutt Paddikkal played a sensible second fiddle scoring 25 off 28 runs as the “Big Show” – Glen Maxwell bludgeoned KKR all over the park.

At 95/3 the dismissal of Paddikal proved to a blessing in disguise for RCB, as Glen Maxwell and AB De Villiers got under the skin of KKR bowling from here on.

Skeptics were apprehensive when RCB bought Maxwell for a whopping Rs 14.25 crores this year. Though Maxwell commands huge excitement during the auctions, there is always an air of uncertainty about him. But this year he looks determined to turn the story around. Playing in his 3rd match for RCB, Maxwell scored his 2nd fifty of the season. In his scintillating innings of 78 tuns off just 49 balls, Maxwell hit 9 fours and 3 sixes. But the best was still to come for RCB.

AB De Villiers looked at his destructive best from the very first ball and took the attack to the bowlers. In a batting masterclass, De Villiers provided the impetus to take the score past 200. In an unbeaten 34 balls innings, he scored 76 runs at the strike rate of 223.53. He was particularly severe on Pat Cummins and Andre Russell at the fag end of the innings hitting 9 fours and 3 towering sixes.

RCB reached the total of 204/4, courtesy of 70 runs scored off the last 5 overs, out of which 55 came off the blazing blade of ABD.

KKR never looked comfortable while chasing this huge target on a tricky wicket. Though Eion Morgan (29 off 23 balls), Nitish Rana (18 off 11 balls), and Rahul Tripathi (25 off 20balls) got starts, none could go on to play a long inning.

Shubman Gill took the team off to a flier by scoring a quick fiery 21 off 9 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes but the party was short-lived. Kyle Jamieson out foxed Gill to play a flat batted drag to mid-on, brilliantly caught by substitute Dan Christain. The big Kiwi fast bowler ended with 3 wickets for 41 runs in his 3 overs.

Andre Russell (31 off 20 runs) was the last threat standing between RCB and the victory. In his flamboyant style, Russell delivered some lusty blows (3 fours and 2 sixes), reminisce his 43 not out of 16 balls against the same opposition in 2016 to single-handedly win the match for KKR. But this time around RCB’s Harshit Patel proved too good for Russell and cleaned him up with a clever yorker. Harshit returned with the figures of 2 wickets for only 17 runs off his 4 overs, winning the match for RCB by 38 runs.

For his superlative batting performance, AB De Villiers was adjugated Man of the match in the 13th win for RCB over KKR in their 27th face-off.

KKR will look for redemption in their reverse encounter against RCB scheduled for 10 May, while RCB would like to continue their winning streak in their next match against RR scheduled for 22 April.