Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in a last-ball thriller by 8 wickets to get their second win of this IPL 2020 campaign. They win exactly after three weeks since they beat RCB to get their first win of the campaign. This win makes no changes to the points table as Bangalore stay at umber three while Punjab reaches four points from eight games.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Devdutt Padikkal (20) and Aaron Finch (18) added 38 for the first wicket inside five overs. Then Padikkal fell to Arshdeep Singh and Finch followed soon. Virat Kohli scored the highest for RCB in the game with a 39-ball 48.
AB De Villiers, who ran carnage against KKR a couple of days ago came out to bat at number six in what was a ‘tactical’ move by the Banglore franchise. However, he scored just two off five balls before he was dismissed in the 18th over of their innings by Shami. Kohli too fell to Shami only two balls later in the same over. Chris Morris played a cameo (25 off 10) to take the RCB score past 170. Shami and Murugan Ashwin took two wickets each for Punjab.
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Rahul-Mayank Set Up Chase For Kings XI Punjab
KL Rahul (61*) and Mayank Agarwal (45) started the chase for Kings XI Punjab within speculations of Chris Gayle opening the batting in his comeback match. Agarwal was particularly aggressive in their opening stand of 78 runs inside eight overs. Chris Gayle, then walked out to bat at number three and scored 53 off 45-balls. This was his 29th IPL fifty overall. He hit five sixes in his knock as he rolled back the clock with his lusty blows.
Surprisingly enough, the game went down to the last over when everyone thought that it would be finished by the 18th. Punjab needed two to win off the final over as things got a bit tight. Gayle managed a run in the third ball of the over. He was then run out of the fourth ball, leaving the new batsman one to win off the final ball. Nicholas Pooran then hit one over long-on, which was just enough to clear the boundary and fetch a win to Punjab.
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What Was the Turning Point In The Game?
Rahul and Mayank’s 78 runs inside eight overs laid the perfect platform for the chase for Kings XI Punjab. Gayle and Rahul then did a good job to take it easy and finally get the win under not much suitable circumstances.
Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul for his unbeaten 61 was awarded the Man of the Match. He now has 448 runs for the season at an average of 133.33. He also has four fifties to his name so far in the season.
“It just got too close for comfort, happy that we crossed the line. As a group, we have been disappointing. It can get frustrating. Our skills were good, but we didn’t capitalize on the big moments. It becomes a habit – winning and not winning. There are ups and downs and this has been the roller-coaster. We wanted this win to get some confidence in the group” said Rahul after the match, which got a bit too close for comfort for KXIP.
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