New Delhi: Surely not the best of their season as Royal Challengers Bangalore squandered to their eighth defeat in the tenth season of Indian Premier league when Virat and his army lost to Mumbai Indians by five wickets. All was going the Bengaluru way, until the last ball of the 18th over that turned the game completely in Mumbai's favour and here is bowler Aniket Choudhary who has come forth to reveal that it was AB de Villiers' advice which made him bowl a fast bouncer rather than a slower one, leaving skipper Virat Kohli fuming in anger.


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Defending a mediocre total, RCB started with a bang as Aniket Choudhary dismissed opener Parthiv Patel in the very first ball of their innings. However, Jos Buttler and Nitish Rana picked up Mumbai's innings, brought back momentum, but departed shortly before the 10th over. Bengaluru bowlers put in their best to defend the average target posted as wickets started falling in regular intervals thereafter.


All was going on fine with the equation coming down to '30 runs needed off 18 deliveries'. Mumbai's last recognised pair of skipper Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya was at strike as Aniket Choudhary paced in for the game-changing 18th over.


Five deliveries, five runs- was what the left-arm seamer had conceded. He was taking the pace off the ball, varying his line and length and there was suddenly an immediate pressure on the batsman. And then came the wide ball. Last ball, Hardik was at strike. Tensed about what delivery to produce, Aniket approached AB for some advice.


"I was wondering whether to bowl him (Hardik) the slower one or the fast one. Maybe it was a match-changing point. So I went to AB and asked him ‘what should I bowl?' And he said ‘maybe he’s ready for the slower one, so I think you should go with the hard length.' And when someone as great as AB tells you do to something, such a world class player and if he is giving you a suggestion, it’s very hard to go against it. And I thought he is right," narrated the 27-year-old.


Well, for the slower, length delivery, Hardik muscled it high over deep square leg for a maximum as the overwhelmed Wankhede crowd roared loud with excitement. The equation lowered down to a manageable 18 off 12 deliveries. As for RCB, the skipper was fuming with anger over the wrong line and length bolwed. Virat was more expecting a slower and fuller ball. "Virat wasn’t happy with what I bowled. He thought I did the wrong thing and I should have bowled full and slow," remembered Aniket Choudhary.


On technical grounds, Bengaluru headed into the game with ' win rest, to go far' attitude. They still had an outside chance for a play-offs spot. Winning the toss, Virat opted to bat first and as usual the top order faltered early, forcing the middle and lower middle order to pitch in with runs. Mr 360's 43 off 27 and a much needed assistance off a late blitz from Kedar Jadav, Pawan Negi saw the RCB side pull the total upto 162.


Mumbai did go on to pull off a victory and become the first team this season to grab the qualifying spot, while Benguluru were chipped off their last possible hope to stay in contention for it. Question now is whether this difference in opinion between the two great batsmen regress the team well below what they were in 2008.