RCB kept playoff hopes alive This is Bengaluru’s fifth win in 12 matches. RCB has scored 10 points
New Delhi. On the basis of Virat Kohli’s explosive innings, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Punjab Kings by 60 runs. With this win, RCB’s hopes of reaching the playoffs are still alive. Punjab team is out of the race for IPL playoffs. Punjab has become the second team after Mumbai Indians to be out of the playoff race. This is RCB’s fifth win in 12 matches while Punjab’s 8th defeat in 12 matches. RCB still has two more matches to play. Du Plessis’s team can reach 14 points by winning the remaining two matches and can fight with other teams by staying at fourth position. Even if the Punjab team wins both its remaining matches, it will have only 12 points, which is insufficient to remain in the race for the playoffs. RCB has 12.1 percent chance of reaching the playoffs. RCB is currently at number seven. With this victory he also improved his run rate.
While chasing the target of 242 runs set by RCB, Punjab Kings collapsed for 181 runs in 17 overs. Riley Russo scored the maximum 61 runs for Punjab. Punjab’s opener Prabhsimran Singh was out after scoring 6 runs, while Jonny Bairstow returned to the pavilion after scoring 27 runs. Wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma could score only 5 runs. Swapnil Singh did not even allow Liam Livingstone to open an account. Shashank Singh was run out by Virat Kohli on his personal score of 37 runs. For RCB, Siraj took 3 wickets while Karn Sharma, Swapnil and Lockie Ferguson took two wickets each.
Virat Kohli got two leases of life
Earlier, RCB scored 241 runs for 7 wickets in the rain-affected match, thanks to Virat Kohli’s brilliant inning of 92 runs in 47 balls and Rajat Patidar’s stormy half-century. The fielders of Punjab Kings dropped many catches during the innings, due to which after being invited to bat, Kohli and Patidar took full advantage of the lease of life and scored 72 runs in 32 balls. When Kohli had not opened his account and was on 10 runs, he got two lives. He took full advantage of these opportunities by making good use of his wrists and feet and completed his sixth half-century of this IPL phase.
Virat and Green took the score beyond 200
Rajat Patidar also got two leases of life. He gave a rapid pace to the score initially and hit six sixes and three fours during his innings of 55 runs in 23 balls. Kohli and Cameron Green (46 runs) continued the same aggressive batting and added 92 runs in 46 balls, taking RCB beyond 200 runs. Green hit five fours and a six before being caught out on the last ball of the innings. With this, RCB scored 77 runs in the last five overs. Fast bowler Vidwath Kawerappa (36/2) took two wickets in the powerplay on his IPL debut and this performance could have been spectacular had the fielders not dropped three catches off his bowling.
Kohli’s catch missed on the third ball
Kohli missed the catch on the third ball. But Kawerappa gave the first success to Punjab Kings by dismissing Faf Duplessis (09) in his second over. Kaverappa again created a chance to dismiss Kohli but Riley Russo could not catch the catch. Kohli hit a six on Kawerappa at long off. But this bowler ended the innings of Will Jacques standing at the other end, whose catch was caught by Harshal Patel (38/3). Patel then dropped Patidar’s catch and then missed three fours while bowling due to which RCB scored 56 runs in the powerplay.
Patidar hits fifty in 21 balls
Rajat Patidar, after hitting three powerful sixes on spinner Rahul Chahar, also hit sixes on Arshdeep and Karen and completed his half-century in 21 balls. Punjab Kings captain Karan dismissed Patidar in the 10th over, reducing RCB’s score to 119 runs for three wickets. The game was briefly interrupted due to rain. After this, the spin pair of Liam Livingstone and Chahar bowled well after the resumption of play. Kohli completed his half-century in 32 balls. Green completed 150 runs by hitting a four off Patel. Dinesh Karthik (18) helped RCB cross 240 runs.
Tags: Cameron Green, IPL 2024, PBKS vs RCB, Virat Kohli
FIRST PUBLISHED: May 9, 2024, 23:45 IST