At Mohali, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 24 runs. With this victory, RCB moved up to fifth place in the league, while PBKS dropped to seventh. After 20 overs of batting on a troublesome pitch, RCB dealt with a decent score of 174/4. The RCB’s top-scoring duo was Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, who put together an opening stand of 137 runs and each scored 59 runs off 47 balls. However, the subsequent batters were unable to build on the solid foundation and failed to provide the required acceleration at the conclusion.
PBKS responded by getting off to a poor start and falling to 43/4 in 5.3 overs. Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh Sharma kept PBKS in the game, but no other batter could contribute. Mohammed Siraj (4-0-21-4) was RCB’s phenomenal bowler, and his fiery innings propelled him to the top of the Purple Cap standings and helped the team win. However, the Punjab Kings are not doomed to failure. Although they lost this match, the Kings can take comfort in certain aspects of their performance. We should check out at three up-sides for PBKS from this game.
1) Prabhsimran Singh is an excellent knocker.
Prabhsimran Singh played a fine innings against an RCB team that was rife with the ball, despite the constant loss of wickets around him. Prabhsimran (46 runs off 30 balls) struck 3 fours and 4 sixes as he took the assault to RCB, batting at a strike-pace of 153.33.
In the upcoming matches, especially in the absence of captain Shikhar Dhawan, the batter for the Punjab Kings will want to turn his starts into big scores.
2) Jitesh Sharma maintains his impressive form.
Jitesh Sharma (41 runs off 27 balls) gave RCB a few apprehensive minutes as he struck a few robust blows, carrying his side near the DLS standard score with the danger of downpour approaching around.
In the first leg of the competition, the young keeper-batsman has impressed with his aggressive stroke play, but he has not yet scored a significant goal. During his strong innings, the youngster hit two fours and three sixes.
Jitesh ultimately ran out of accomplices and was the last wicket to succumb to PBKS. In the upcoming games, he will want to maintain his form.
3) The opposition is bound together by spin twins.
With the ball, Rahul Chahar (4-0-24-0) and Harpreet Brar (3-0-31-2) impressed. They are one of the few bowlers in this competition who has been able to contain Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis.
Despite not having a wicket, Chahar conceded just 6 runs per over, making him extremely difficult to score against. Even though Brar was expensive overall, he ended up taking big wickets from Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli, keeping RCB from getting close to 190 in the end.