The foundation was laid by Virat Kohli’s 100th T20 half-century as RCB defeated Punjab Kings four wickets to one on Monday night at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. After limiting PBKS to 176/8 in their 20 overs, Kohli took advantage of a brief reprieve, having not yet opened his account, to set up the chase. Dinesh Karthik then added the final touches to enable RCB cross the finish line with four balls remaining.
RCB is in charge of Powerplay.
Even though Dhawan produced a few beautiful aerial drives, RCB was able to limit Punjab’s score during the PowerPlay. In a tight new-ball delivery, Yash Dayal got the ball to swing early, and Siraj claimed Jonny Bairstow’s wicket. Following two deliveries that were pitched up and hit the on-side fence by the English opener, Siraj retracted his length and Bairstow mishit his pull in the covers area. Prabhsimram Singh’s strong start laid the groundwork for a solid second-wicket stand, but with just 40/1 on the board at the end of the powerplay, RCB were the happier team.
Joseph’s return and Maxwell’s mixed bag
Following the time-out, Dhawan welcomed Maxwell with a boundary, and Prabhsimran hammered him for a six to deep backward square, but the all-rounder was able to end the latter’s exciting innings on 25. Prabhsimran tried to pull but top-edged instead, and it was the extra bounce that proved to be fatal for him. Liam Livingstone was about to inflict more damage on Maxwell when he managed to draw a short ball for four and even clear the ropes in spite of timing his slog-sweep incorrectly. But Maxwell got the crucial wicket of Dhawan in his opening over of the middle-overs spell, getting the ball to spin away as the batter took the lead. This came one ball after Alzarri Joseph, on 17, ended the Livingstone danger with a strong recovery from a 10-run first over. Punjab scored just 71 runs for 3 wickets during the middle-overs phase as RCB kept making small scores.
Comedies by Jitesh and Shashank boost Punjab
The highlight of Jitesh Sharma and Sam Curran’s half-century partnership was their back-to-back sixes off Mayank Dagar in a costly 17-run over. Nevertheless, Punjab was kept under wraps for the majority of the last overs thanks to the stingy 17th and 19th overs from Joseph and Siraj, respectively. Their score of 170-plus was only made possible by a 20-run burst from Joseph in the last over, which was a blinder from Shashank Sngh. With his 8-ball 21, the Punjab batsman made a great first impression by hitting two maximums off of a flick and a hook and then adding four more runs.
PBKS pays Kohli for the early drop.
When Bairstow lost hold of a regular take at first slip, it was the second ball of the RCB’s chase, and Kohli had not yet scored. Beginning with the four off the same delivery as the ball raced to the third region, the drop cost RCB 77 runs. With two more boundaries struck by Curran in the first over, Kohli set the pace for Rabada with a stunning lofted drive and then picked three more in Arshdeep Singh’s second over. Kohli scored eight of them in the first four overs, giving the RCB the upper hand even as Kagiso Rabada removed fellow countrymen Faf du Plessis and Cameron Green for three apiece. With Punjab managing to claw things back a little, Kohli struck his fifty, which is the 100th century in Twenty20 cricket, off just thirty-one balls. After Harpreet Brar cleaned up Rajat Patidar and sent back Maxwell cheaply, RCB was able to move on thanks to an inside-out six off Chahar after a couple of miserly overs and the pull to bring Harshal Patel back into the attack. He reached the seventy-five mark with two consecutive fours from Harshal, a full toss down leg and a short one outside off, but Punjab scented an opening and the bowler had the final laugh.
Rakesh and Lomror push RCB past the breaking point
In order to keep up with the asking rate, the seventh-wicket combination both started off with boundaries off Curran. In an over that ended with 13 runs, Lomror targeted Arshdeep with a six down the ground and a short ball pushed over the fence. Harshal then entered the firing line when Karthik did the same in the penultimate over, which also ended with 13. With 10 remaining in the last over, the seasoned player completed the chase in only two balls, first slicing down a first-ball six with a calculated scoop and then smashing a four straight past the bowler to enable RCB score their first points.
For them, what comes next?
On Friday, Bangalore will play host to KKR at home, while Punjab will play their second straight away game in Lucknow, up north.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 178/6 in 19.2 overs (Virat Kohli 77, Dinesh Karthik 28*; Harpreet Brar 2-13, Kagiso Rabada 2-23) defeated Punjab Kings 176/6 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 46; Mohd. Siraj 2-26, Glenn Maxwell 2-29) by 4 wickets.
