IPL 2018, Match 8, RCB v KXIP: What was the Moment of the Game?

The match 8 of IPL 2018 witnessed Royal Challengers Bangalore hosting Kings XI Punjab at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. While KXIP had tasted victory in their last game, RCB were in search of their first win. The first match of the season on the home turf brought them on the board with their emphatic win over the visitors.

RCB won the toss and asked the opposition to go in first. KXIP’s innings got off to a great start but lost momentum soon and they found themselves in a spot of bother. KL Rahul and Karun Nair played steady hands but the innings didn’t find much momentum. A handy knock of 33 by the captain Ravichandran Ashwin took the team to a respectable 155.

RCB’s chase didn’t get off to the perfect start but Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock assembled runs at a good pace. After Kohli’s dismissal, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers provided the stability. After a slight troubling phase, AB de Villiers took his side past the line.

Moment of the Game

RCB’s chase had suffered an early loss in the form of Brendon McCullum in the very first over. The skipper Virat Kohli had to walk to the middle and he began to build his innings in his usual demeanor. He released the pressure by cutting the first ball for a boundary off Axar Patel.

Kohli was finding his feet gradually and threatened to run away with the game after he played some of his trademark strokes. The Afghan spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman bowled the 3rd over of the innings and gave away just 3 runs. His variations made it difficult for the batsmen to collect runs off him.

Kohli was facing up to Mujeeb once again in the 5th over of the innings. The first 4 balls of the overs had yielded just 1 run and the spinner was flourishing. Kohli tried to dominate and went for his preferred cover drive. But the spinner had other ideas.

The RCB skipper was into the drive and the ball landed in the perfect good length spot. All of a sudden, it spun back and clipped the top of middle. Kohli was perplexed and so were the thousands at the Chinnaswamy. It was the googly that dipped on the batsman and then turned back sharply to dismantle the stumps.

You need to bowl a special ball to fox a batsman like Kohli. It indeed was a masterful delivery from Mujeeb that scalped the prized wicket. Even though RCB ended up winning the match comfortably, the dismissal of the modern great by a 17-year-old is surely the highlight of the match.

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