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What

Match 12 of Pepsi IPL 2013 will feature the Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders.

After losing a thrilling tie in the Super Over in an away game to SRH, RCB rallied back brilliantly on their home turf to defeat the Sunrisers Hyderabad convincingly. The Kolkata Knight Riders meanwhile opened their account in convincing style when they defeated the Delhi Daredevils in the tournament opener. However, chasing a modest total against the Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions fell short by 19 runs.

When

Thursday, April 11, 2013, 4 p.m

Where

M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

The Protagonists

Virat Kohli showed the other night – in the home match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad - that RCB was not a one man team. There is no doubt Chris Gayle will consume most of the space in the media and most time in opponents’ team meetings, but in Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers RCB have two of the game’s best finishers.

Though they got outclassed in the away fixture against the Rajasthan Royals, the Kolkata Knight Riders are a solid outfit. In Gautam Gambhir they have a captain who believes in leading by example. The KKR skipper confirmed at the pre-match press conference that the hard-hitting Brendon McCullum was fit and rearing to go. His availability and inclusion in the XI will be a huge fillip to the team’s batting line-up.

On the bowling front, it is going to be a battle of the two spin wizards – Sunil Narine and Muttiah Muralitharan. Batsmen have found Narine, the Purple Cap holder, to be extremely difficult to get away; in his two matches so far this season he has conceded only 41 runs in the eight overs. The wily Muraitharan has picked up a solitary wicket, but he has only conceded 71 runs in twelve overs. Young Jaydev Unadkat has kept the runs down and picked up important wickets too.

Previous Meetings

These two teams were involved in the very first IPL match – back in 2008 – when Brendon McCullum got the IPL off to a flying start with a breathtaking single-handed demolition of the RCB.

Since then the two teams have met on nine occasions and RCB have managed to even the scales, winning five to leave the head to head at five apiece. In the last IPL season, KKR won both their league matches against RCB by convincing margins.

Trivia

Brendon McCullum’s unbeaten 158 against RCB in the opening game of the inaugural IPL is still the highest individual score in T20 cricket.

What Next

RCB will hop across to neighbouring Chennai for their away fixture against the Chennai Super Kings on April 13 while the Kolkata Knight Riders will head back home to host Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 14.

 
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Sun Risers Hyderabad won their second match on the trot defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in an exciting Super Over at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad. The match went to the very last over and SRH, needing 2 of the last ball, tied the match to take it to the Super Over. 

In the Super Over, SRH batting first, managed to score 20 runs as Cameron White thumped R Vinay Kumar for two sixes and then Dale Steyn came on for SRH and gave away only 15 runs despite Chris Gayle's six, that kept RCB in the hunt off the penultimate ball. 

Earlier chasing 131, SRH started on a lucky note as Parthiv Patel was dropped early by Chris Gayle but he failed capitalise on it as Moises Henriques had Patel edge to the wicket-keeper. Henriques struck again in his next over sending back White (5). 

Akshath Reddy (23) and Hanuma Vihari (44*) started to build a partnership before the former was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan. Jaydev Unadkat struck twice to dismiss Kumar Sangakara (16) and Thisara Perera to get RCB back into the match. Vinay then ran out Amit Mishra, before Ashish Reddy (14) dismissed him for a six and a boundary in the 18th over.
 
Needing seven runs of the very last over, RCB's hero from the match against MI, Vinay dismissed Reddy of the first ball. Some frantic running from SRH got them down requiring 2 runs off the last ball. The batsmen ran the final ball through to the keeper to tie the match. 

Earlier RCB won the toss and chose to bat. Vihari struck with his very first delivery having Gayle (1) edge to the wicket-keeper. Ishant Sharma then got into the act sneaking through Tillakaratne Dilshan's (5) defense, and shattering his stump. SRH bowlers strangled the flow of runs and at the halfway stage RCB had scored only 55 runs. 

Virat Kohli (46) and Henriques got on with the task of rebuilding the innings putting on 43 runs before Ashish Reddy got rid of Kohli caught of his own bowling. Mayank Agarwal (7) was given a lifeline when Ishant Sharma dropped him at deep wicket but he failed to capitalise on it and fell to Dale Steyn the next over. Henriques (44) who had played aggressively fell in the search of quick runs and RCB eventually finished at 130 for 8 from their 20 overs.

Man-of-the-Match: Hanuma Vihari 

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 130 for 8 in 20.0 overs (Virat Kohli 46; Ishant Sharma 3-27) tied with Sun Risers Hyderabad 130 for 7 in 20.0 overs (Hanuma Vihari 44*; Moises Henriques 2-14). Sun Risers Hyderabad won the match in the Super over.

 
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Royal Challengers Bangalore defended 156 in a thrilling fashion to start their season with a 2-run win. The match went down to the last ball, but Vinay Kumar's calm temperament and match awareness denied the visitors, Mumbai Indians a win, with Chris Gayle earlier starring with the bat helping RCB post 156. 

Needing 157 for victory, Sachin Tendulkar (23) and Ricky Ponting (28) laid the foundation putting on 52 runs for the first wicket before Tendulkar was run out by a sharp bit of fielding by Jaydev Unadkat. Ponting departed soon after when he was stumped by KB Arun Karthik off the bowling of Murali Kartik.

MI then began to struggle to get the ball away as the RCB bowlers stepped up the pressure. Rohit Sharma (11) went for a wild slog and lost his stump to Vinay Kumar. The game seemed to be slipping away from MI but Dinesh Karthik struck three consecutive sixes off Daniel Christian's 17th over to turn the match on its head and revive MI's hopes.

With 10 runs required in the last over, Vinay Kumar struck twice removing Karthik (who made a well composed 60) and Ambati Raydu (18) brining his team back into the game. Kieron Pollard struck a boundary of the penultimate delivery leaving himself to score four runs off the final delivery, but could manage only one, handing RCB a victory by one of the smallest of margins.

Earlier in the evening MI won the toss and put RCB in on a track that offered plenty of swing and bounce for the fast bowlers. RCB survived a few anxious moments before Mitchell Johnson got one through Dilshan (0) knocking back his off-stump. Debutant Jasprit Bumrah was given a rude welcome as Virat Kohli (23) drilled him for three boundaries through the off-side. But Bumrah came back well picking up the wickets of Kohli and Mayank Agarwal (1) in quick succession, to leave RCB reeling at 31 for 3.

Harbhajan Singh then had Christian caught and Bumrah followed it up with the dismissal of Karan Nair. Chris Gayle, as he has done so often in the past, once again played the savior innings for RCB; after a slow start, he finished with an unbeaten 92 off 58 balls, scoring 11 boundaries and 5 sixes during his stay out there.

Gayle found a suitable companion in Arun Karthik (19*) and they made 76 runs for the sixth wicket to help RCB post a more than respectable 156 for 5 in their 20 overs.

Man of the Match: Chris Gayle

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 156-5 [Chris Gayle 92*, Jasprit Bumrah 3-32] beat Mumbai Indians 154-5 [Dinesh Karthik 60, R Vinay Kumar 3-27] by 2 runs.