Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/6 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 48, Chris Morris 25*; Mohammad Shami 2/45)
lost to
Kings XI Punjab 177/2 in 20 overs (Kl Rahul 61*, Chris Gayle 53, Mayank Agarwal 45; Yuzvendra Chahal 1/35) by 8 wickets.
Kings XI Punjab kept their play-off hopes alive by nudging aside an error-strewn Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets in the 31st match of the Indian Premier League 2020. KL Rahul and Chris Gayle spanked vivacious fifties to help KXIP conquer 171 and yield the bottom-placed franchise an elusive two points on Thursday, October 15 at the Dubai International Stadium.
The chase seemed a walk in the park until the 19th over but KXIP incredulously managed to drag stuff right down to the wire. With a puny two required off six balls, Gayle consumed two deliveries for zilch and then bunted a single to level the equation. He was then run out in pursuit of a non-existent single on the penultimate ball as KXIP were left with a nerve-wracking 1 off 1. However, the next man in, Nicholas Pooran threw caution to the wind and blitzed a six on the last ball off Yuzvendra Chahal to ensure KXIP sleep easy tonight.
Look who's here, the Universe Boss
The wait was finally over as Chris Gayle overcame a bout of food poisoning and embellished the KXIP team sheet after seven games. To be precise, it was his first competitive rubber since January as he'd skipped Caribbean Premier League 2020. Also taking field for this season's underachievers were Murugan Ashwin and IPL 2020 debutant Deepak Hooda. There's no sense in fixing what's not broken and hence, RCB tagged along with the winning combination.
Karnataka brothers call the shots
The high-flying opening pair of Rahul and Agarwal burned the midnight oil to steer KXIP to a rowdy 56 for none at the culmination of the PowerPlay. Cherrypicking one from the array of textbook jewels could be a tough ask, but Agarwal's inside out breeze over cover off Yuzvendra Chahal was undoubtedly the stand-alone pearl. Full of vim and vigour, the right-hander would go on the slay another maximum off the leggie, this time gun-barrel into the sightscreen. However, in what was an exhibition of his lion-hearted spirit, Chahal dangled the carrot again to knock over Agarwal for 45.
Gayle hits the ground running
Breakthroughs are generally presumed to bring comfort, but for RCB there was no mercy in store tonight. Chris Gayle bided his time to limber up the sore muscles before razing a barrage of herculean strikes. Rahul kept scoring at a fair clip alongside, dazzling two gorgeous sixes off Mohammed Siraj en route his journey to a boisterous half-century. The Calypso King followed suit, notching his soon after as RCB's perennial Achilles heel registered a guest appearance. Despite a wagonload of jaw-dropping theatrics in Yuzvendra Chahal's ultimate over, KXIP managed to hold their nerves with knuckles white.
RCB's early venture a mixed bag
Sharjah has right from the very beginning proved a litmus test for bowlers across the board. But KXIP made a good fist of things in the front half. Arshdeep Singh drew first blood, having Devdutt Padikkal caught at short cover off a lifter which seemed to have just stopped on him. Spin being his gravest bugbear, Aaron Finch looked in a tizzy while facing Murugan Ashwin and was soon on his way to the pavilion, off-stump dinged by a leg-break that turned away ever-so-slightly to zoom past his tentative prod. Washington Sundar was slotted in at number four as a pinch-hitter, an out of the blue promotion that left many with a furrowed brow as AB de Villiers kicked his heels in the engine room. Though the southpaw chewed up 13 balls before lousing a hoick to mid-wicket, leaving RCB nor-here nor-there at 86-3 around the midway stage.
Where on earth is ABD?
Shivam Dubey walking in ahead of cornerstone de Villers must've led to fans scratching their heads as basic cricketing logic was thrown to the dogs. The only counter-argument could be that of shielding him from his pet peeve, the leg-spinners, Ravi Bishnoi and M Ashwin in this case. Albeit KXIP still had a few aces up their sleeves in Mohammed Shami and Chris Jordan to try and keep de Villiers on a leash, if and when he occupied the crease. Dubey mauled consecutive sixes off Bishnoi to offer justification for his promotion, but Jordan's sharp bouncer got big on him at 23.
The ship has already sailed
Kohli and de Villers finally united towards the fag end but Mohammed Shami's whip-smart 18th yielded RCB a friendly reminder of how miserably they'd botched on tactical frontiers. With no breathing space whatsoever to get his eye in, de Villiers skewed a trademark inside out loft to the man hugging the thirty-yard circle. The skipper couldn't wrap his head around Shami's slower bumper as the ball never seemed to arrive, scrubbing his glove to land in KL Rahul's mitts for a cruise-controlled 48.
Morris spares RCB a few blushes
Shami was over the moon having nabbed the potential tormentors, but Chris Morris came from out of the syllabus. He employed his long levers to the nines, ransacking 24 off Shami's 20th to lend a great deal respectability to RCB's jaunt. Although it wasn't all Morris magic in entirety, Isuru Udana too had a slice of the pie, clanging Shami with aplomb flat over the backward square leg fence.
What's next in store?
RCB have no time to cry over spilt milk as Rajasthan Royals await their presence in the first of Saturday's doubleheader. The ray of hope has glimmered again for KXIP, and they'd leave no stone unturned to ensure it remains as such in their tie against Mumbai Indians under lights on Sunday, October 18. And you bet Chris Gayle sounds optimistic, ''Seven games to go, we believe we can win all seven, it is still possible.”
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