IPL 2018: RCB send Daredevils packing, playoff contention still unsure

NEW DELHI: If the Delhi Daredevils management were to take a lesson from the ongoing IPL, it would be the need to have experience in the team. Like Sunrisers Hyderabad two nights ago, two of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s best batsmen walked past a similar target posed by the hosts without a fuss.
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Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers showed what experience of dominating world cricket for years can do to a rival team that has been largely built around what is perceived as the next line of international cricket.RCB won by five wickets but that slot in the playoffs still remains an outside chance for them.
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Rishabh Pant, like he has done through this tournament this edition, was out in the middle in the early half of the match. And there he, posing questions to the Indian skipper as to why he still finds himself out of his scheme of things. Every pull against the pace of Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav, every effortless hit off Yuzvendra Chahal made a statement. His 34-ball 61 seemed to put Kohli and his men under pressure as the hosts posted 181/4.
Then there was 17-year-old debutant Abhishek Sharma, flaunting the depth in Indian cricket with clean, straight-hitting for an unbeaten 46 off 19 balls.
All of that was to be undone by the class of Kohli’s unassuming 40-ball 70 and de Villiers’ enterprising 37-ball 72. Their 118-run partnership was screaming out the difference to the Indian youth in the Daredevils camp.
The authority, the calm and the awareness is their daily labour in top-flight cricket. With the big English summer around the corner, Kohli knew he could barely afford to show any signs of indecisiveness, something that has plagued him and his team throughout the tournament so far. He was out there to dismiss all uncertainties about his batting.
De Villiers, at the other end, eased things all the more and the chasemaster was back to what he does best in white-ball cricket. Daredevils’ best bet with the ball was Sandeep Lamichhane and he was duly played out by the duo.
All of Kohli’s preceding knocks have struggled to take RCB past the finishing line. On Saturday night, he ensured RCB had this one in the bag by the time he nicked Amit Mishra to wicketkeeper Pant in the 14thover. The job was duly completed by de Villiers.
Kohli was imperious in the chase - the flicks off Trent Boult and Junior Dala landing in the stands at mid-wicket. The cover drives sailed deep into the crowd too. More importantly the singles-at-will were back.