KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell steer Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a 7 wicket victory against Delhi Capitals (DC) in their last IPL encounter of the season at the Dubai International Stadium. Coming in to bat first Delhi Capitals got off to a steady start courtesy of Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan. After they were gone, there was a lull in the innings until Shimron Hetmyer helped them reach a fighting total of 164.
Beginning the chase, RCB lost both Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal in their first 3 overs. AB de Villiers had a small cameo but it was Srikar Bharat and Maxwell who would build a steady partnership and which took RCB home eventually. This match went till the last ball when Srikar hit Avesh for a 6 to bring the match to a thrilling end, and winning hearts over Twitter.
Important win before the big match on Monday. Well played Bharat & Maxi 👏👏@RCBTweets pic.twitter.com/qFEwKQLSsG
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) October 8, 2021
KS Bharat remained unbeaten on 78 of 52 balls, while his partner Glenn Maxwell made a useful 51 runs off 33 delivers as RCB chased down DC’s target in the very last ball of their innings.
Twitter went crazy after this thrilling victory over runner ups Delhi Capitals. As the IPL 2021 Points table stand, Delhi Capitals, Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Banglore, and lastly Kolkata Knight Riders qualify for the knockout stages of the tournament.
This is how Twitter reacted to Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Win:
That was some hit from Bharat. Great finish. Really like this player, must get more attention now.
— 𝗚𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗮𝗺 𝗦𝗼𝗱𝗵𝗶 (@GautamSodhi1) October 8, 2021
#AxarPatel should be banned for firstly that casual effort and then laughing his guts out over it. Wth man, so casual in such a pressure situation! #RCBvDC
— Srinjoy Sanyal (@srinjoysanyal07) October 8, 2021
KS Bharat does what Arun Karthik did many years ago. Hitting a last-ball six to win a game for RCB. That midfield from Axar and the wide from Avesh proved costly. Looked like he was struggling towards the end but kudos to Bharat for seeing this through.
— Shashank Kishore (@captainshanky) October 8, 2021
just in case India were looking for yet another keeper batsman in white ball cricket! #DCvRCB #IPL2021
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) October 8, 2021
Maxi & KS Bharat brought back the whole game. What innings from Maxwell & KS Bharat. That typical Virat Kohli Celebration! 😂❤#RCBvsDC pic.twitter.com/5c8BbjSXiM
— UrMiL07™ (@urmilpatel30) October 8, 2021
Avesh Khan had a good laugh in the final over. But he forgot it's not the final ball.
Good lesson for arrogance 😂#RCBvsDC pic.twitter.com/LTJLoLxriT
— Nomad (@raj91709727) October 8, 2021
Bharat ki Pratibha Ka Yaad Rakhega Bharat 👏👏 #IPL2021 #RCB
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 8, 2021
Incredible feeling to finish it off – KS Bharat
KS Bharat, who scored an unbeaten half-century to take RCB home in the final ball, admitted that he was not nervous at any points of his innings.
Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, KS Bharat said:
“Great wining on the last ball, and an incredible feeling to finish it off. Maxi and I just kept telling each other to watch that ball till the end. I wasn’t nervous at any point and I was just looking for the right ball and the opportunity to hit it out. I have worked hard, I believe nothing comes for free. I work on my batting against spin. This will give us a lot of confidence.”