Kohli's Bangalore rate is sure to keep Dhoni in Chennai's top two
It is not possible to say exactly in terms of numbers, but it can be guaranteed that Royal Challengers Bangalore is not finishing the group stage from the top two of this year's IPL!
Bangalore play-off has already been confirmed. It has been confirmed that Bangalore's opponent Sunrisers Hyderabad will be eliminated in the group stage of IPL today. However, today's win against Hyderabad was important for Bangalore to take a place in the top two. That never happened again.
Virat Kohli's side lost by 4 runs in the end despite stopping Hyderabad by 141 runs. It ensured that Mahendra Singh Dhoni was in the top two of the Chennai Super Kings.
At the moment, Bangalore (17 points from 13 matches) and Chennai (17 points from 13 matches) are in the top three. But in the run rate, Chennai is ahead of Kohli by (+) 0.698.
Bangalore's last match is again at the moment (20 points from 13 matches) against Delhi Capitals, Chennai's match against Punjab Kings tomorrow.
In the immediate aftermath of the match, the equation of Kohli's rise to the top two is this: Bangalore will have to win by 115 runs in the last match, while Dhoni's Chennai will have to lose their match by almost the same margin. Cricket is a game of uncertainty, but not so much.
Today's rate has put Kohli in front of this equation. After losing the toss and choosing to bat in Abu Dhabi, Jason Roy's 44 off 36 balls and captain Kane Williamson's 31 off 29 balls laid the foundation for Hyderabad's innings. Apart from this, the short innings of Priyam Garg (15) and Jason Holder (18) have also made a great contribution.
Fast bowler Hershel Patel took 3 wickets for 33 runs for Bangalore, while Dan Christian took 2 wickets for 14 runs. Yujbendra Chahal and George Garton took one wicket each.
But the bowlers did a great job, but Kohli could not take advantage of it. Kohli was dismissed for 5 off the last ball of the first over. Dan Christian and Srikar Bharat also returned within the team's 36 runs.
Bangalore needed a pair to handle the push. Maxwell and opener Devdut Parikkal also put on 54 runs for the fourth wicket. But Parikkal scored 41 off 52 balls, the second slowest in the history of the IPL in an innings of 50 or more balls. And Maxwell has raised the possibility of getting the fourth fifty in a row by returning 40 runs from 25 balls.
AB de Villiers still tried, but his innings of 19 off 13 balls or Shahbaz Nadeem's 14 off 9 balls only took Bangalore to the score of Hyderabad, could not pass.