Watson and de Villiers help RCB end losing streak with 13-run win

Here how the IPL match between Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune went down on Friday...

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Rising Pune Supergiants captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni starts speaking in an oddly defensive manner, mentioning the three unnecessary and unfortunate dismissals of Pune's top-order batsmen. Not like him to ever make excuses. KP's injury might work in Pune's favour — they can now look to bring in a bowling all-rounder without having to willingly drop a batsman of KP's calibre.

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli looks more relieved than Tyrion Lannister claims he was after Joffrey Baratheon's death (pardon the tiny GoT reference). Says they played good cricket, and just needed to show composure in key moments. Admits he didn't bat as well as he'd have liked, praised Shane Watson, AB de Villiers and Tabraiz Shamsi, the man who got off a plane and bowled like a match-winner.

Man of the Match AB de Villiers says he got away with a couple of boundaries, mishits that went for six (those exist?!) but he is pleased with his performance.

Phew. That was a nice few last overs. Heart-rate up. Required Run-rate down. Hopes up. Crashed down.

After Royal Challengers Bangalore set up a target of 186, Rising Pune Supergiants got off to an inauspicious start — Faf du Plessis lost his wicket early to an ungainly shot, then Kevin Pietersen's calf muscle had a twist worse than a bad Tollywood 90s flick, and a couple balls later Steve Smith found himself sprawled in front of the batting crease with the bails off. Then Ajinkya Rahane and captain MS Dhoni carried on like Test batsmen — at times looking like they were trying to avoid a draw, at other times, hacking at the ball like a drunk lumberjack — before one Harshal Patel over sent both of them back to the dugout. Thisara Perera and Rajat Bhatia came into their own in the pressure situation and brought the RRR down from 17 per over to 12.50, with 25 to get off 2 overs. Perera especially (34 from 13 balls) swung some lusty blows befitting a real-life super giant. But Shane Watson's golden arm had an over left. Perera fell in a two-wicket over that ratcheted the RRR back to 21. And finally, Kane Richardson bowled the last over for 7 runs and 2 wickets, to put paid to the Supergiant rebellion.

RPS 172/8 after 20 overs (A Sharma 3 off 3 | I Sharma 0 off 0 || lose by 13 runs)

And now, Pune now self-destruct, with 21 to get off the final over. Richardson deceives Bhatia (21 from 11) with a tardy bouncer that Watson (someone keep this man down) pouches at Square-leg. And then, Murugan Ashwin (0 from 1) falls to a superhuman catch from AB de Villiers, who runs backwards towards Mid-off for a while, then course-corrects, twists himself around into a pirouette and catches the ball somewhere near his right ear. What. In. The. World.

Three balls later, it's all over.

RPS 165/5 after 19 overs (A Sharma 0 off 0 | R Bhatia 17 off 8 || need 21 from 6 balls)

And a total fiasco at the 'keeper's end now. Pressure getting to RCB with Perera looking capable of muscling Pune towards a outrageous victory. Bhatia goes for it first ball. Booms a full-ish ball from Watson up into the air. Sarfaraz Khan at Fine-leg and 'keeper Rahul hurtle towards each other as the ball converges between them. Rahul overshoots the ball and then fails to catch it behind his head. A ball later, though, Watson gets the danger-man, Perera (34 from 13) himself mistiming it into Cover's hands. And a gripping onslaught comes to a tame end.

And then Watson (what a dude) comes and removes one more wicket, just for good measure — Ravi Ashwin slog-sweeps it straight down Deep Midwicket's throat. So, a freak period of adrenalin comes to be dissipated by the effective Watto.

RPS 161/4 after 18 overs (R Bhatia 13 off 5 | T Perera 34 off 12 || need 25 from 12 balls)

All it needed was for the dull Dhoni and restful Rahane to clear the area. RPS now getting some winning momentum here courtesy Rajat Bhatia and Thisara Perera. A massive over 25-run over bowled by Harshal Patel.

First Bhatia launches into Long-on for six . Then Perera strikes three fours — thick-edges one through Third-man, thwacks a full-toss through Midwicket and then smashes one through cover. Wait, he's not done. The last ball of the over goes for a gigantic six over Long-on. And Pune is all abuzz all of a sudden. They actually have a real chance at this target now.

RPS 136/4 after 17 overs (R Bhatia 6 off 3 | T Perera 16 off 8 || need 50 from 18 balls)

Watson comes in for his third over now. Has bowled as per his form and reputation today. But Bhatia cares not, and smacks him over Point for four . And then, Perera helps himself to a pulled six over Midwicket. Watson bowls a wide. Then he bowls another one the batsman leaves, and just as his team breathes a sigh of relief and the 'keeper runs back to the stumps with an air of smugness, the umpire calls it a wide. A 15-run over there, even with the last ball dot.

RPS 121/4 after 16 overs (R Bhatia 1 off 1 | T Perera 8 off 4 || need 65 from 24 balls)

This is a question I have had for a few years now. Does Dhoni really think he is putting pressure on the bowlers by dealing in singles in a T20 chase? The pressure is totally on him. And it shows for the umpteenth time, as Dhoni tries to steal a boundary to salvage the five-run over. He tries to clout Harshal Patel over Mid-off. But far from making up the RRR shortfall with a stolen boundary, all Dhoni (41 from 38) does is find de Villiers patrolling the boundary at his night shift. And ABD will never allow a burglary on his watch.

All going downhill for the Supergiants now. They're done for. Unless the elves have been working on KP's torn leg.

RPS 115/3 after 15 overs (MS Dhoni 39 off 35 | T Perera 6 off 2 || need 71 from 30 balls)

Okay ,finally!!! The test match ends

Dhoni finally batters one through Mid-on for four . Quite a biff, that, off the back foot. Then all goes well for a few balls, until Rahane (60 from 46) steps out callously, fails to meet the ball on the half-volley, swishes violently, and Rahul whips off the bails in a jiffy. This is some blow to come at this time. The set batsman is gone.

Oh Perera! He survives a very very close LBW shout, and then dismisses the next one way over Midwicket for six .

RPS 102/2 after 14 overs (A Rahane 60 off 45 | MS Dhoni 32 off 32 || need 84 from 36 balls)

Dhoni still running well here. Rahane still playing all along the ground. Ooh what a wide there by Abdulla! Rahane plays it along the ground to Mid-on. Dhoni now hacks at one from yorker length down to Mid-off. Boundaries are as rare here as a Pakistan supporter in India.

RPS 94/2 after 13 overs (A Rahane 58 off 43 | MS Dhoni 27 off 28 || need 92 from 42 balls)

Now, Watson is back. And the Supergiants really have to get going as the RRR creeps up with every ball. They need to score 12.5 runs every over to get there from here. They had a sad start, sure. But now is the time to stop playing defensively and go for it. And Watson spoils a brilliant over by bowling a full-toss last ball that Rahane puts away for four through Square-leg.

RPS 86/2 after 12 overs (A Rahane 51 off 38 | MS Dhoni 26 off 27 || need 100 from 48 balls)

Rahane is as quiet as a mouse after a laryngectomy. He's reached his fifty, do you believe? Not a peep. A boundary here, a two there, a punch here, an edge there... and voila!

RPS 80/2 after 11 overs (A Rahane 48 off 35 | MS Dhoni 23 off 24 || need 113 from 54 balls)

They're reading Shamsi's googly quite consistently here. Rahane pats it down, before sweeping him fine for four .

RPS 73/2 after 10 overs (A Rahane 43 off 31 | MS Dhoni 21 off 22 || need 113 from 60 balls)

Iqbal Abdulla joins to bowl in tandem with Shamsi and gives an 8-run over — key being, without any boundaries . The batsmen are running well under Dhoni's influence. But they need boundaries. Boundaries. RRR is 11.30.

RPS 65/2 after 9 overs (A Rahane 37 off 27 | MS Dhoni 19 off 20 || need 121 from 66 balls)

Dhoni running really well now. He isn't connecting with the bat, so needs to keep the runs flowing in his own way. Now, Rahane reaches forward and heaves Shamsi for a sweep-shot through Long-on for four . And Dhoni feathers it really fine past 'keeper Rahul, who can't stick a parrying leg out like Dhoni did while 'keeping earlier, for four .

RPS 53/2 after 8 overs (A Rahane 32 off 24 | MS Dhoni 12 off 17 || need 133 from 72 balls)

Rahane sneaks an inside-edged boundary through Fine-leg. Then he nudges real fine through Third-man for another four . The required run-rate was getting high — above 11.5 runs per over — till those two relievers.

RPS 41/2 after 7 overs (A Rahane 22 off 20 | MS Dhoni 10 off 15 || need 145 from 78 balls)

Left-arm chinaman into the attack now. Tabraiz Shamsi. He comes running in from Short Mid-off, and almost goes into a headlock at the popping crease a la Paul Adams — and delivers wrist spin with a quick jerky motion. Played carefully by the batsmen.

RPS 36/2 after 6 overs (A Rahane 20 off 17 | MS Dhoni 8 off 12 || need 150 from 84 balls)

Dhoni wants to get inside Watson's head before Watson can get into his groove — steps out with an aggressive two-step and swipe-and-misses hard as the ball thuds into his pad. But the rest of the over contains no boundaries.

RPS 32/2 after 5 overs (A Rahane 18 off 15 | MS Dhoni 6 off 8 || need 154 from 90 balls)

Now. Dhoni gets his bread-and-butter half-volley on off-stump and he despatches it with a power-packed punch for four .

RPS 23/2 after 4 overs (A Rahane 16 off 12 | MS Dhoni 0 off 5 || need 163 from 96 balls)

Rahane is in his own cocoon, though. Unaffected by the men falling around him, he continues to cream short-and-wide ones through the Covers for four . And MS Dhoni plays out his first few balls nervously, as is his wont.

I was alive when in a T20 match, Dhoni came with 17 overs to play. >#RPSvRCB

— Vikas Rai (@VikasRai55) >April 22, 2016

RPS 18/2 after 3 overs (A Rahane 11 off 8 | MS Dhoni 0 off 3 || need 168 from 102 balls)

More and more trouble for the Supergiants. Smith (4 from 3) is gone now. After smacking a juicy half-volley for four through Midwicket, he got rapped on the pad and as the appeal was being processed, he ran down a few paces and can't make it back before Kohli comes prowling through Point and knocks the stumps down for a blink-and-miss run-out.

RPS 12/1 after 2 overs (A Rahane 10 off 7 | S Smith 0 off 1 || need 174 from 108 balls)

Kane Richardson steams in and bowls a tremendous over. Bowls three speedy balls that trouble both batsmen, and then induces Faf (2 from 3) into stepping out and mistiming it into Mid-off's hands. Oh no, more trouble for RPS now. Kevin Pietersen (ret. hurt 0 from 1) comes in and promptly pulls a calf-muscle while taking off on a run. Looked really painful there, had that grimace. Hobbles off.

RPS 11/0 after 1 over (A Rahane 9 off 5 | F du Plessis 2 off 1 || need 175 from 114 balls)

Looking at RPS logo, they would be better off playing quidditch than cricket. >#IPL2016>#DilSeIndian>#RPSvRCB

— Harshvardhan S (@Harshvardhan499) >April 22, 2016

Ajinkya Rahane starts off with some elegant strokes. An easy push with the bat-face in Cover's direction goes for a screaming four and another straighter push goes for four through Long-off off a misfield. Now, Faf gets a powerful drive, but straight to the fielder.

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Both Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rising Pune Supergiants might just be smiling under their poker faces at the end of this innings here. A team losing just the one wicket till the 20th over might have expected to get to 200 on this kind of a wicket. But due to a strangely handicapped performance from Kohli, they were slowed down a bit until he hit his straps towards the end to get a decent tally. ABD was sublime as usual. Steve Smith in the field was Godly.

But RCB have yet managed 20-30 runs above the par score on this ground. Interesting to see how Rising Pune Supergiants approach this total with their batting line-up.

"I'm not happy with the way I batted tonight, I could have used 10 balls fewer." - >@imVkohli . >@RCBTweets>#RPSvRCB>#PlayBold>#VIVOIPL

— VK 18 Fan Club™ (@imVkohliFanClub) >April 22, 2016

RCB 185/3 after 20 overs (S Watson 1 off 1 | S Khan 2 off 1)

Kohli now playing intelligent 'street-smart' shots to maximise RCB's first-innings output. A cute cut beats the Third-man fielder for four . Then, a wide ball later, he plays a crunchy swipe through Square-leg for another four . By the next ball, Kohli (80 from 63) is far too excitable and easily miscues a pull shot on a slower one from Perera and is out caught at Deep Midwicket. And the next ball, the screws come off for RCB as de Villiers (83 from 46) now skies a miscue to Long-off, where a jittery Ankit Sharma — who had dropped Kohli a couple overs ago — catches it flimsily. With two fingers, by the looks of it.

Watson and Khan can manage just 3 runs off the last 2 balls. And yet again, RCB waste valuable final-over balls by losing wickets. But the first two fours by Kohli were quite handy and they manage 12 runs off that over. A decent total, now, it seems.

RCB 173/1 after 19 overs (V Kohli 72 off 60 | AB de Villiers 83 off 45)

Now, Kohli realising he must — absolutely must — get a real move on, unless RCB trickles yet again to a below-par total. Paddles it fine for four through Fine-leg. There's a god, after all, and it's not Steve Smith — this time, the livewire Australian patrols the boundary with such a sprint that he overshoots Kohli's drive, failing to parry it. And Ishant has given away two four s in a row. And ABD tops it off with a monstrous whack for six on the on-side.

AB DeVilliers' batting is so addictive that I'm surprised it isn't banned yet. >#RPSvRCB>#IPL9

— That Guy (@avid__dreamer) >April 22, 2016

RCB 157/1 after 18 overs (V Kohli 63 off 56 | AB de Villiers 77 off 43)

Oh, now Kohli has truly released all his pent-up feelings into a crisp hoick through Midwicket for six . And the rest of the over is filled with runs between and behind the wickets.

RCB 144/1 after 17 overs (V Kohli 53 off 52 | AB de Villiers 75 off 41)

Steve Smith is at it again. Why doesn't he become a goalie? Nothing goes through him. This time, he saves a crunched straight drive by ABD. Ouch, Bhatia gets a nasty blow on the chin — and he wasn't even batting against Kane Richardson. A return throw ricochets awkwardly off the stumps and smacks him right in the kisser. Kohli is still mad as a hatter who has no heads to fit. His pads get a hateful thump as the ball goes nowhere.

RCB 137/1 after 16 overs (V Kohli 51 off 50 | AB de Villiers 70 off 37 )

This time, Dhoni can't use magic feet to parry away 5 wides down the leg-side from R Ashwin. Oh dear dear dear. Ashwin gets Kohli to play a feeble slog that reaches into the sky, goes higher and higher, until Ankit Sharma completely misses it coming down at Mid-off. Could there BE a more costly drop?

RCB 128/1 after 15 overs (V Kohli 50 off 47 | AB de Villiers 68 off 34)

And finally, Kohli totters over to his fifty. He's so consistent it's hard to stomach occasions when his strike-rate isn't above 150. And these two batsmen notch up yet another century stand.

RCB 122/1 after 14 overs (V Kohli 48 off 44 | AB de Villiers 64 off 31)

Sublime reverse-sweep from ABD through Point for four and then he unfurls a conventional sweep on the on-side for another four . Murugan Ashwin can't be a happy chappie.

RCB 111/1 after 13 overs (V Kohli 46 off 42 | AB de Villiers 55 off 27)

Ankit Sharma bowls a quiet over. Although it wasn't all that quiet, with Kohli roaring and grunting his mishits and curbed runs.

RCB 106/1 after 12 overs (V Kohli 43 off 38 | AB de Villiers 53 off 25)

Bravo! ABD reaches his fifty by punching Ravi Ashwin through the Covers for four . He's overtaken Kohli by some distance this innings.

RCB 97/1 after 11 overs (V Kohli 40 off 35 | AB de Villiers 47 off 22)

ABD knows just how to welcome a bowler into the attack. Murugan Ashwin gets swept to around 3 tiers away beyond the Fine-leg boundary for six . Now, Kohli drives one powerfully towards the Long-off boundary, where Steve Smith materialises and pulls off the most surgically precise one-handed stop on the move. As Kohli grunts in frustration, ABD hoicks M Ashwin for a huge six on the on-side off his last ball.

RCB 79/1 after 10 overs (V Kohli 37 off 33 | AB de Villiers 32 off 18)

Now, de Villiers plays a shot identical to one Kohli played in Ishant's last over — square-cuts Bhatia through Cover-Point and Faf du Plessis at the boundary slaps the ball away and it trickles into the boundary rope 10 yards away for four .

RCB 69/1 after 9 overs (V Kohli 35 off 31 | AB de Villiers 24 off 14)

And ABD sweeps the last ball of Ankit Sharma's sedate over Square-leg. It was one of those floaters that rise gradually upto the ropes and then rise more and then just drift down into the stands like a deflated balloon. Thank god. That over was getting to be quite boring with all that well-run singles and twos.

RCB 57/1 after 8 overs (V Kohli 31 off 27 | AB de Villiers 17 off 12)

Supergiant MSD shows his Goal keeping skill to save a run. RT if you love that. >#DumKaNayaRang>#RPSvRCB>pic.twitter.com/a8ZaZVEdKY

— Pune Supergiants FC (@RPsupergiantsFC) >April 22, 2016

Finally, Ravichandran Ashwin comes in, pretty late and after Powerplay. Has Dhoni lost faith in his opening spinner these days? Ashwin should keep faith with his captain, though, the way Dhoni miraculously padded away a fine cut by Kohli with a classy dance-step.

RCB 53/1 after 7 overs (V Kohli 29 off 23 | AB de Villiers 15 off 10)

Rajat Bhatia bowls an over full of slow cutters and singles. De Villiers did try a wild shot that was a dud, though.

RCB 48/1 after 6 overs (V Kohli 27 off 20 | AB de Villiers 12 off 7)

Now, Ishant really crosses the line. Literally. Gives Kohli a free-hit, but Kohli can't convert it. But ABD comes next ball and rips the leather off the short ball, pulling it violently into the Midwicket boundary for a one-bounce four . Now, Kohli cuts Ishant with force through to Deep Point, where the fielder dives, and slaps the ball away into the boundary .

RCB 37/1 after 5 overs (V Kohli 22 off 16 | AB de Villiers 7 off 4)

De Villiers plays the most controlled swat through the off-side for four and leaves left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma scratching his head.

RCB 29/1 after 4 overs (V Kohli 20 off 13 | AB de Villiers 1 off 1)

Four runs rocket on the up from Kohli's bat and end up slamming into the ropes at Backward Point. Rahul (7 from 10) now tries to loft Perera through the on-side but top-edges an ugly-looking shot into Ishant Sharma's palms at Third-man.

RCB 22/0 after 3 overs (V Kohli 14 off 10 | KL Rahul 7 off 8)

And Kohli is away with a thwack over Square-leg for six and then his trademark powerful push for four through Midwicket. Ishant is having some trouble with his line, for sure. But bowls well enough to Rahul, who almost spoons a catch to Kevin Pietersen at Mid-on, to end with 3 dot-balls.

RCB 11/0 after 2 overs (V Kohli 3 off 7 | KL Rahul 7 off 5)

Kohli tries a couple of times to thread the gap between Mid-on and Midwicket, and Thisara Perera has bowled a quiet over for just 2 runs.

RCB 9/0 after 1 over (V Kohli 2 off 2 | KL Rahul 6 off 4)

Ishant Shamra rocking his tuft, looking fashionable and saintly at the same time. Not a fashionable start though — first ball flung down the legside for a wide even though Kohli tries his darndest to make contact. But Rahul gets the same opportunity a ball later and whips it away for four through Fine-leg. The next ball is clouted into the Covers, where a panther — no wait, it's Steve Smith — hurls himself and saves a certain boundary with one hand. Oh, Ishant had Rahul edging just short of first slip. Close one.

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1958 hrs | The players walk out and the umpires pluck the ball out the rheumy corner of the camera lens.

The Rising Pune Supergiants today are:

Ajinkya Rahane, Faf du Plessis, Kevin Pietersen, Steve Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c&wk), Thisara Perera, Rajat Bhatia, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ankit Sharma, Murugan Ashwin, Ishant Sharma

And the Royal Challengers Bangalore :

Virat Kohli (c), K.L. Rahul (wk), AB de Viliers, Mandeep Singh, Shane Watson, Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Harshal Patel, Kane Richardson, Tabraiz Shamsi, Iqbal Abdulla

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RT KS_Crictracker: "I should send someone else for the toss. This is the 4th consecutive time I lost the toss." - KOHLI >#RPSvRCB

— #cricket (@CricketUrdu) >April 22, 2016

1932 hrs | Rising Pune Supergiants win the toss and opt to bowl. Dew could come into play, feels Dhoni. This has been a trend over the past few games for teams to put Royal Challengers in to bat first, knowing its captain's love for the chase. Think Kohli is more annoyed with this opposition strategy or with his luck at the coin toss?

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. >@imVkohli and his boys are warming-up ahead of their game against >@RPSupergiants>#RPSvRCB>#VIVOIPL>https://t.co/WDq29RlJDh

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) >April 22, 2016

Royal Challengers Bangalore will have to make peace with the loss of a top-class legspinner in Samuel Badree, who has finally been ruled out of the tournament after the injury he picked up during the World T20 final. RCB has urgently signed South-African chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi.

RCB bowling coach Allan Donald reportedly flaunted his team's "new mysterious spinner". Yay. Will we finally see a bowler don a Batman cape and mask? Or a Sherlock hunting-cap? Or the clothes Agatha Christie wore on her final trip before her disappearance?