Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Punjab Kings by six runs to secure a place in the knockout phase of the IPL; Glenn Maxwell top scorer with 57 of 33 balls while RCB posted 164-7 before the Kings finished at 158-6 in response, Mayank Agarwal’s 57 of 42 balls came to no avail
Glenn Maxwell scored a 29-ball half-century to put RCB on track to victory
Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore secured their place in the knockout stages of the IPL with a six-run victory over the Punjab Kings in Sharjah.
Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell (57 of 33 balls) scored the RCB’s top scorer at 164-7, while Moises Henriques impressed with 3-12 of his four overs for Punjab.
In response, KL Rahul (39 of 35) and Mayank Agarwal (57 of 42) posted 91 for the first wicket but their momentum slowed once the partnership was broken, and, after three wickets for RCB leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3-29), the Kings finished 158-6 after leaving too much to do in the later overs.
RCB remains third, but is safe in knockouts with a game to spare, while the Punjab Kings remain fifth and must now win their last game and wait for the results to go their way if they want to claim the last remaining spot in the plays. -offs.
Having chosen to hit first, RCB was able to get through the power play without losing a wicket, although that was due more to the Kings’ generosity than anything else.
Kohli, at the nine, survived when Rahul failed to pick up the ball cleanly through Ravi Bishnoi’s leg before Devdutt Padikkal was brought down by Rahul later in the same substitution.
Kohli had a second life at 10 when he threw a delivery of Mohammed Shami into the middle of the wicket where Sarfaraz Khan couldn’t risk it by going to his left.
The RCB captain’s good fortune finally ran out in the 10th when a Henriques pitch slipped away to hit the stump when Kohli (25 of 24) tried to work it on the leg and Bangalore suffered another hit on the next ball when Dan Christian ( 0) was caught. at the back point.
Henriques knocked out Padikkal (40 of 38) in his next over, but Maxwell soon pulled RCB out of that rocky patch, dominating a 73-race grandstand with AB de Villiers, hitting four sixes, two of which flew over the roof and out. from the stadium. – and reaching his half century with only 29 balls.
De Villiers threatened to hit the road when the inning reached its climax, breaking two highs of his own, but Sarfaraz surpassed him magnificently at 19 and the Kings managed to limit the damage in the death.
Shami (3-39) had been unusually expensive, but took three wickets in the 22nd, including Maxwell’s, to give Punjab a boost in the middle stage.
The Kings’ optimism could only have increased with a strong start from their opening games, ending the power play at 49-0 with Rahul and Agarwal looking good touch.
The game changed at the end of the 11th when Rahul was caught in a third man short in front of Shahbaz Ahmed and when the hideously out of shape Nicholas Pooran (3 of 7) fell to Chahal after a couple of shutdowns, suddenly it was the men of Kohli. with momentum.
Agarwal hit his fiftieth of 36 balls, but the fatal blow for the Kings came at 16 when, with the required pace rising, the starter missed a Chahal sweep and was caught; the leggie then produced a beautiful delivery that ripped past the outer edge to launch Sarfaraz three balls later.
Aiden Markram did his best to keep Punjab on track but fell to the impressive George Garton (1-27), the English left arm executing his slower ball excellently for the South African to catch long.
Harshal Patel (0-27), leader in land grabbers in the IPL, was left with 19 to defend in the final and, although he did not add to his account, he was left without Shahrukh Khan (16 of 11) and, except for Wides o no balls: he had finished the game with three balls to spare.
He completed the job and a dream ending to Kohli’s captaincy before he retires at the end of the season remains a possibility.
Watch the Delhi Capitals take on the Chennai Super Kings in a top-of-the-table clash in the IPL starting at 2.50pm on Monday at Sky Sports Cricket.
