Virat Kohli’s majestic 92 off 47 balls, coupled with a collective bowling effort helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru get a 60-run win over Punjab Kings at the HPCA Stadium here on Thursday. The result means RCB keep their playoffs hopes alive with their fourth win on the trot, while PBKS join Mumbai Indians as the second team to be eliminated from the tournament.
After Kohli’s knock, along with Rajat Patidar’s 55 took RCB to 241/7, their fourth-highest overall total in the tournament, PBKS had a glimmer of hope of reaching the target following a 65-run partnership between Jonny Bairstow and Rilee Rossouw. Though Rossouw made 61, none of PBKS’ batters stood up to the challenge as they were bowled out for 181 in 17 overs.
RCB had a superb start to their defence as Swapnil Singh trapped Prabhsimran Singh lbw on the fourth ball. Bairstow hit four boundaries and a six in his 16-ball 27, before falling to Lockie Ferguson on the second-last ball of the powerplay.
Rilee Rossouw kept PBKS in the hunt by smashing boundaries at will to hit his first fifty of the competition, which he reached by thumping a six over Cameron Green’s head. After getting some attention from the physio for an injury, Rossouw holed out to long off against Karn Sharma, who went on to castle Jitesh Sharma.
Though Shashank Singh was smashing boundaries, it wasn’t enough for PBKS as Liam Livingstone was caught at cover for a duck, off a leading edge against Swapnil. Shashank himself needed attention from the physio for a shoulder injury and was run out by a direct hit fired by Virat Kohli from deep mid-wicket on the very next ball, falling for 19-ball 37.
After that, PBKS never recovered as Ashutosh Sharma was trapped lbw by Mohammed Siraj, followed by Lockie Ferguson knocking over Sam Curran. Siraj came back to take out the remaining two wickets and finish with 3-43 as RCB managed another clinical win.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 241/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 92, Rajat Patidar 55; Harshal Patel 3-38, Vidwath Kaverappa 2-36) beat Punjab Kings 181 in 17 overs (Rilee Rossouw 61, Shashank Singh 37; Mohammed Siraj 3-43, Swapnil Singh 2-280 by 60 runs
