After a tough super over loss in the hands of Delhi Capitals, Kings XI Punjab bounce backed with huge win over RCB.KL Rahul and Punjab Humiliated Royal Challengers Bangalore by handing 97 run defeat.
Royal Challengers Bangalore came to this game on back of win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Captain Virat Kohli, without any hesitation chose to bowl first after winning the toss. But his counterpart KL Rahul had different ideas for the night.
The Classy right hander created history with a mammoth 132 runs in 69 balls(4’s X 14, 6’s X 7) and his 132 runs is the most run scored by an Indian batsman in IPL history.He played through complete 20 overs without getting out after opening the game for Punjab.
First game hero, Mayank Agarwal (26 runs from 20 balls) started well and created 57 runs opening partnership with his Captain before falling to a googly from Chahal.N Pooran also started well (17 of 18 balls) and setup another 57 runs partnership with Rahul for first wicket.
Australian Glen Maxwell once again disappointed with his batting performance. KK Nair and KL Rahul finished the job by scoring 78 runs in final 28 balls. In a way RCB Captain Kohli helped Kings XI by dropping catches of both Rahul and Nair in a uncharacteristic way. KL Rahul scored 42 runs in just 9 balls after Kohli’s drop catch.
RCB Batting ended before it even started
With more than 10 runs required per over RCB started their chase in worst possible way. They lost Rookie Padikkal (1 run) in first over, Australian Joshua Ryan Philippe for duck in second over and then big fish Virat Kohli(1 run) in the third over. They were 3 for 4 in 2.4 overs before Finch(20 runs from 21 balls) and De Villiers (28 from 18) put a 49 run partnership for fourth wicket. Unfortunately both departed in the span of 4 runs.
Only Washington Sundar extended the great collapse for few more overs, his 30 runs from 27 balls helped RCB to cross century mark and finished game for 109 runs.This sound like a familiar script right? yes…this is been story of Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL history so far, there is talent but no end results. They are Los Angeles Clippers of IPL.
KL Rahul, Winning Captain and Man of the Match:
“It’s as complete a team performance as it can get, so yeah, happy. I’ve actually been not so confident. Had a chat with Maxi yesterday and said I wasn’t feeling completely in control of my batting. Was a little nervous but I knew if I faced a few balls, it would settled down. Sometimes as a captain you’re short on time, but I still try and maintain the same routine. Till the toss I still want to think as a player, not a captain. [The bowling] we had a few different plans going into this game and we knew we had to get wickets up front, that also meant we needed to get a big score. As complete a performance as it can get. [Bishnoi] has a lot of heart. He has a lot of fight in him. Every time I throw the ball to him, he wants to get in the fight. He was a little nervous bowling to Finch and AB, but showed a lot of heart.”
Virat Kohli, losing Captain:
“I think we were pretty good in the middle phase with the ball. I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it. Cost about 30-40 runs. If we’d restricted them at 180 we wouldn’t have felt pressure to go from ball one. There are days when you have these kind of things happen. Just have to accept them. We’ve had a good game, we’ve had a bad game. Time to move on. We need to learn to plug those little mistakes. We did pretty well, especially closing in on the second time out and just after that. But as I said, should have led from the front with those two chances. With the bat as well, we started well, but we should have put pressure straight away. [Philippe at 3] He’s batted at the top of the order for WA and done well at the big bash as well. Early days, we tried to see if we can maximise his ability. We just thought chasing a big total, we’ll give outselves a bit of depth in the middle overs. Just didn’t come off. One of the things you try and couldn’t execute”
IPL Points table and teams Standings
with today’s win Punjab reached top of the table with 2 points in 2 games and with better net run rate.
Click here for complete Match scorecard
Winning Mooments
