Punjab Kings crossed Royal Challengers Bangalore’s massive score of 205 with six balls to spare on Sunday. Punjab made a winning start in the tournament by scoring 208 for five in 19 overs.
Bengaluru posted a mammoth total of 205 for two in 20 overs, thanks to the explosive half-century of captain Faf du Plessis (88) and the stormy innings of former captain Virat Kohli (41 not out) and veteran wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik (32 not out). But his bowlers could not defend this big score.
Captain Mayank Agarwal scored 32, Shikhar Dhawan scored 43, Bhanuka Rajapaksa scored 43 and Liam Livingstone scored 19 runs. Shahrukh Khan scored an unbeaten 24 with the help of one four and two sixes and Odin Smith scored an unbeaten 25 in just eight balls with the help of one four and three sixes and settled the match in 19 overs.
Bangalore bowlers conceded 22 extra runs including 21 wides. The Bangalore bowlers could not leave any impact on any batsman. Shah Rukh and Smith shared an unbeaten match-winning partnership of 52 runs in 25 balls for the sixth wicket. This is the fourth time that Bengaluru have not been able to defend after scoring above 200.
Earlier, Bangalore, batting first after losing the toss, made a slow but good start. The team did not lose any wicket in the first powerplay. Captain Faf du Plessis and young batsman Anuj Rawat shared a 50-run partnership for the first wicket, which ensured a huge score.
Du Plessis batted vigorously after gaining a foothold at the crease. He played a stormy innings of 88 runs in 57 balls with the help of three fours and seven sixes. After he was dismissed for 168, Kohli and Karthik continued to play in a fiery manner. How dangerous the batsmen batted can be gauged from the fact that Bengaluru scored 135 runs in the last 10 overs with a run rate of around 14. 23 and 21 runs came in the 13th and 14th overs respectively.
Kohli scored an unbeaten 41 off 29 balls with the help of one four and two sixes, while Karthik scored 32 runs off 14 balls with the help of three fours and three sixes. All the bowlers proved costly from Punjab side. Arshdeep Singh and Rahul Chahar were a bit economical, getting a wicket each.