Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by four wickets in yesterday’s IPL 2024 game at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to register their first win in the tournament.
Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik took their side home
Bowling first after winning the toss, RCB held PBKS to 176-6. Virat Kohli then hammered 77 off 49 in the chase, while Dinesh Karthik (28* off 10) played a blinder of a cameo to lift Bangalore to victory with four deliveries to spare.
After Anuj Rawat (11) was trapped lbw by Sam Curran, Mahipal Lomror came in as RCB’s Impact Player, with his team needing 47 off 22. He attacked Arshdeep Singh with a six and four in the 18th over.
Karthik and Lomror’s partnership did the job for RCB
Karthik struck a couple of crucial big hits in the penultimate over bowled by Harshal Patel to bring the equation down to 10 off the last over. The seasoned batter scooped the first ball from Arshdeep for a six over fine leg before whacking one down the ground for to lift Bengaluru to a famous win at home.
Earlier, Kohli guided the RCB chase, hitting 11 fours and 12 sixes, even as wickets kept falling at the other end. He got out to Harshal on the last ball of the 16th over, slashing one to deep backward point. His dismissal gave PBKS the upper hand, but Karthik the finisher came to save the day for Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli most of the times remains not out in the chase but yesterday he got out in the middle, but nevertheless he was still adjourned as Player Of The Match for his sensational 77.
RCB bowlers were very disciplined
Sent into bat after losing the toss, Punjab Kings slipped from an impressive position of 72-1 to finish with 176-6. PBKS lost Jonny Bairstow for 8 immediately after he had hit Mohammed Siraj for consecutive fours. Looking for another big hit, he skied the next one. Captain Shikhar Dhawan (45 off 37) and Prabhsimran Singh (25 off 17) added 55 for the second wicket. Prabhsimran, though, top-edged a slog off Glenn Maxwell and perished in the ninth over, just after swinging the bowler for a six.
Liam Livingstone came in and took on Maxwell, slamming him for a four and a six. PBKS, though, suffered a double setback as Livingstone (17 off 13) and Dhawan perished off consecutive deliveries. The former fell to the last ball of the 12th over, nicking a short and wide delivery from Alzarri Joseph to the keeper.
On the first ball of the 13th over, Dhawan holed out to long-off, miscuing a big hit off Maxwell. Jitesh Sharma (27 off 20) hammered Mayank Dagar for a couple of sixes, while Shashank Singh (21* off 8) took on Joseph in the last over and smoked some fiery blows which included two sixes and a four. Curran (23 off 17) also chipped in as PBKS crossed the 175-run mark.
Kevin Varchand