Much to the excitement of the stadium’s full home crowd of RCB. There has been no change for either team. Faf du Plessis did, however, mention that they might alter a couple of the stand-ins. They would need to exercise care to avoid losing wickets in bunches, he added. Although Shikhar Dhawan is content to perform whatever is in front of him, he too desired to field first.
RCB Playing XI: Faf du Plessis (capt), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal.
Punjab Kings Playing XI: Shikhar Dhawan (capt), Johnny Bairstow, Prabhsmran Singh, Sam Curran, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Liam Livingstone, Shashank Singh, Harpreet Brar, Harshal Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Rahul Chahar.
A first ball that should have been a single ended up becoming a four. Mohammed Siraj, who goes on the wider side just outside off, doesn’t have a lot of swing available. At mid-off, Dhawan drives to Glenn Maxwell’s right, and Maxwell dives over the ball. After that, Yash Dayal bowls a brilliant second over, scoring merely a few runs.
Jonny Bairstow’s indifferent form continues. He gets off the mark with a heave wide of mid-on for his first four and follows it up with a crash through point, but falls the very next ball. At number three, Prabhsimran Singh strikes first with a strong blow to the ground, and Dayal keeps up his good work with another two-run over.
While he was present, Prabhsimran Singh had a nice appearance. Before Shikhar Dhawan unleashed a devastating long-on blow to Mayank Dagar, he hit Cameron Green with a delightful flipped six that went 90 meters over square leg. Prabhsimran then crushed Glenn Maxwell for a six, but the spinner got the last laugh as he finished his innings on 25.
Enter Liam Livingstone, who attempted to increase the scoring rate in opposition to the spinners. Even though he slammed Maxwell for a six and four, Alzarri Joseph’s pace ultimately proved to be too much for him. The sphere was broad and brief, and Livingstone, as he frequently does, headed towards the hills. He was only able to give the keeper a thick edge.
Dhawan was out for a 37-ball 45 that was caught at far on with Maxwell pumped the very next ball. Everything that Kings had worked so hard to achieve has now been undone.
Alzarri Joseph gave up just seven runs in the 17th over, and the only four he hit came via an inside edge. After that, Sam Curran hit two fours against Yash Dayal, but Dayal emerged victorious when Anuj Rawat made a superb one-handed catch to dismiss Curran with a short ball.
Siraj took Jitesh out of the game with a brilliant 19th over, giving up just four runs. He expertly varied his lengths and took advantage of the two-bouncer regulation. That is some excellent death bowling from the RCB bowlers, but Shashank Singh’s last over burst has helped Punjab Kings reach 176 for 6.
The scorecard will show four fours and an explosive start for Virat Kohli, but Sam Curran should have had him for a second-ball duck. Kohli was away. He drove Curran through covers, then clipped his past short fine leg before creaming a half-volley through covers to make it 16 runs off the first over.
In the IPL, Kagiso Rabada outscored Faf du Plessis, and he did it once again. A full ball struck the stumps at a speed of about 137 kph. Du Plessis wants to go down-town after clearing his front leg, but he is only able to manage a top-edge with mid-on taking a straightforward catch.
The Punjab Kings have successfully stopped the run flow after an early rampage by Kohli. Cameron Green was also dismissed by Rabada, and Curran, Harpreet Brar, and Harshal Patel did a good job of following up. Once more, it was the lengths that proved effective.
Harpreet maintained his line from wicket to wicket, and Curran skillfully varied his pace. RCB slowed down as Harshal went full speed ahead of schedule. But here, wickets will be crucial. And that’s what the kings will long for.
A left-arm spinner’s only job at times is to bowl a wicket-to-wicket line. Basic things. No significant deviations, no mystery twist. And it was the only thing Harpreet did to hurt RCB. With four overs, thirteen runs, and two wickets, Virat Kohli went on a rampage.
Frustrated that nothing was coming out, Patidar attempted to crawl under one. He observed his stumps in disorder and was unable to. When Glenn Maxwell returned to one, he was only able to regain an under-edge on his stumps. For four overs, Brar did not give up a single boundary. He actually only pursued one double. All of the other songs were singles.
When he realized the ball was short and wide, Kohli decided to slash. However, that cut fell squarely into Brar’s lap, who was expertly positioned halfway between deep point and deep third. Kohli was angry and exasperated.
Anuj Rawat was removed from the game by Sam Curran with a slower ball that caught him squarely in front, and the M Chinnaswamy Stadium fell silent.
After Harshal dismissed Kohli for 77 in the 16th over, Punjab may have felt more confident. To get the fans excited, impact substitute Mahipal Lomror entered the field, hit a boundary off the first ball, and then fired one into the stands off Arshdeep. After that, Karthik took over, hitting 28 off 10 balls to end with four balls remaining.
