Kings XI Punjab broke their seven match losing streak after they trounced the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 22 runs in a rain-affected contest in Mohali. After rain had delayed the start of the match by nearly three hours, KXIP, put in to bat, posted a competitive 106 on the board in their allotted ten overs and then restricted their opponents to 84-6. Kings XI Punjab rode on a breezy innings from Wriddhiman Saha to get to 106-6 at the end of their ten overs. Promoted to open the innings, the diminutive wicket-keeper batsman hit a couple of boundaries in the first over. In the second over, he got stuck into Sreenath Arvind, milking him for three fours and a six – milking a total of 20 runs from the over.
KXIP had raced to 34 in two overs, before the opening pair was separated at the start of the third over. Saha attempted to hit David Wiese over the top but couldn’t connect well and holed out to Mandeep Singh at long on; he made 31 from 12 balls – in what would be his quickest innings in T20 cricket.
With contributions from the rest of the batsmen – Axar Patel’s 15-ball 20 being the second-highest score of the innings – KXIP finished with a total of 106 for 6.
Harshal Patel was the most impressive of the RCB bowlers; brought in as the fourth bowler in the innings, the medium pacer returned with figures of 2-0-12-2, which included the scalps of Manan Vohra and Glenn Maxwell. Yuzvendra Chahal (2-25) impressed too; despite being hit for successive sixes by David Miller, the young leg-spinner held his nerve and dismissed the left-hander the following delivery. Mitchell Starc, who bowled a fantastic final over – in which he conceded only six runs, and David Wiese were the other wicket-takers for RCB.
When it was their turn to chase, RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals. The KXIP bowlers bowled disciplined the right lines and lengths and kept the RCB batsmen on a tight leash. Mandeep Singh was the top scorer of the innings, scoring 20 off 14 balls.
RCB captain Virat Kohli started with a blast, hitting two fours and a six, and raced to 19 from nine balls before he dragged a ball from Anureet Singh back onto his stumps. Chris Gayle (17) was second to be dismissed when he edged a Sandeep Sharma bouncer to the wicket-keeper.
And when AB de Villiers (10) was dismissed in the seventh over – with RCB needing 40 runs from 20 balls – the contest was all but killed.
For KXIP, Beuran Hendricks bowled a fantastic spell, conceding only nine runs in his two overs, while also picking up the wicket of Dinesh Karthik. Axar Patel returned figures of 2-0-11-2, which included the scalps of de Villiers and Mandeep Singh, and earned him the Man of the Match award. Anureet Singh (2-21) and Sandeep Sharma were the other wicket-takers in the innings. (IPL website)
Brief Scores
Kings XI Punjab 106-6 in 10.0 Overs (Wriddhiman Saha 31, Harshal Patel 2-12) Royal Challengers Bangalore 84-6 in 10.0 Overs (Mandeep Singh 20, Axar Patel 2-11)
Man of the Match: Axar Patel, for his unbeaten 20 and 2-11.
