IPL-2018: De Villiers, De Kock's blitzkrieg power RCB to 205/8 vs CSK

Bengaluru, April 25 (Cricketnmore) South Africans AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock's struck breezy half centuries to power Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a mammoth 205/8 against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match at

On the first ball of the very next over, de Villiers, who had earlier clobbered leg-spinner Imran Tahir for two massive sixes, took Thakur to the cleaners thrice consecutively to bring up his half century.

With both the RCB batsmen going hammer and tongs, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni threw the ball to his West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, and the "Champion" responded in style by packing back de Kock with a smart catch off his own follow through.

Tahir then joined the party by bagging the prized scalp of de Villiers and new man Corey Anderson (2) in the very next over to restore parity into the match.

De Villiers miscued Tahir's tossed-up delivery pitched outside off-stump for Sam Billings to complete the formalities at deep cover.

Tahir immediately got rid of New Zealand's Anderson with a googly as Harbhajan Singh completed a brilliant catch at slip.

With the hosts comfortably placed at 142/4, Mandeep Singh (32 off 17; 4x1, 6x3) and Colin de Grandhomme (11) struck a few lusty blows towards the end, even as two run-outs and a wicket in the final over could not stop RCB from crossing the 200-run mark.

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 205/8 (AB de Villiers 68, Quinton de Kock 53; Mandeep Singh 32; Imran Tahir 2/35) vs Chennai Super Kings.

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IANS