In a nutshell
Royal Challengers Bangalore bounced back from their first game loss and defeated Delhi Daredvils in a nailbiting thriller. Despite posting a low (by IPL standards) score of 157 in their innings, RCB was able to restrict the Daredevils especially in the last five overs. As is evident from our win probability graph (see the graph here), the game was well balanced until the 15th over and then it turned towards the RCB. In fact, this was the first time since 2013, a team had successfully defended under 160 in the IPL at this ground.
Find the entire quantitative summary here.
How it unfolded
The Royal challengers won the toss and surprisingly chose to bat first, despite Chinnaswamy stadium being one of the grounds where it is difficult to defend totals below 190-200. RCB started confident with their best batsmen Chris Gayle and Shane Watson opening. Both looked fluent, until Gayle fell for Chris Morris. This was followed by quick dismissals of Mandeep and Watson. This is when JAdhav walked in and stabilized the inningsand scored a stylish 37-ball 69. The momentum was, however, successfully stopped by captain Zaheer Khan who dismissed Stuart Binny and Jadhav in quick succession. This loss of momentum led to a meagre 23 being scored from the last four overs leading to a score of 157.
The Daredevils, with a very good chance of winning this game, started steady scoring at a good pace of 8 per over until they lost two quick wickets in their 5th and 6th over. Billy Stanlake was instrumental in this effort who removed Nair and Samson at regular intervals to keep pressure on the Daredevils. Pant was the only bright spot for the Daredevils who maintained his composure throughout the innings. However, their middle and lower order crumbled around him, but he kept his cool to take his team within 21 with two overs remaining. This is when the game took a big turn with Shane Watson pulling off a wonder just conceding 3 runs in the 19th over. With 18 to be scored off the last over, this sudden increase in pressure led to Daredevils choking and scoring only 2 runs in the last over.
Where the game was won
While Jadhav deserves a lot of credit for steadying the RCB’s innings to reach a respectable score of 157, the game was won by the bowlers eapecially Watson and Chahal. This is also evident from the WPA scores in our analysis. Pant was the only bright spot among the Daredevils but was not enough.
What this means for the tournament
The RCB is back with renewed confidence and the Daredevils lived up their reputation of being one of the most underachieving teams in the IPL. The IPL is still fresh though and Daredevils can take solace in the fact that their main players were out because of injuries and will be back soon.