IPL 2018: Match 48, KXIP vs RCB, Review- Royal Challengers crush the Kings with a thoroughly dominant show

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) found themselves in dire straits prior to the match. They were needed to win this contest against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. Kings XI Punjab also weren’t in the greatest of morale as they lost three out of their last four matches. Both teams wished to get the better of each other and move an inch closer to the playoffs.

The encounter promised a lot, bearing in mind that both teams have a formidable lineup in their armoury. However, Virat Kohli’s vibrant bunch of boys ripped apart Punjab by ten wickets. The bowlers wreak havoc supported by some explosion on part of the Punjab batsmen. The openers finished the formalities with 71 balls to spare.

Disastrous Punjab

The pitch looked good for batting and Kohli won the toss, elected to field first. Chris Gayle and KL Rahul opened the proceedings for the Kings and got them off to a blistering start. The duo stitched together a stand of 36 runs off 27 balls and threatened to take the game away from the hosts. Rahul cleared the boundaries thrice and looked good for another dominating performance.

Gayle took his time early on but came into his own to smack a few boundaries. However, Umesh Yadav had other ideas and nipped both out in a space of four balls, which pushed Punjab on the back-foot. Rahul tried to pull him over mid-wicket only to find the safe hands of Colin de Grandhomme. Gayle followed suit with a similar stroke. Mohammed Siraj pinned Karun Nair to rock the home team.

Yuzvendra Chahal yorked Marcus Stoinis and shattered his stumps. Mayank Agarwal became Grandhomme’s maiden victim.  Meanwhile, Aaron Finch looked set to resurrect the derailed start by the Kings. To his dismay, Moeen Ali accounted for his wicket when he tried to slog the away to be caught by Kohli. Ravichandran Ashwin perished to a run-out for a golden duck.

The procession of wickets continued as Andrew Tye became the eighth wicket to fall and was Yadav’s third victim. All of a sudden, Ashwin’s men were in danger of getting bowled out well within the 20 overs, leave alone getting a competitive score on the board. The last couple of wickets were in the form run-outs as Punjab were bundled out for 88 runs with 29 balls to spare.

Kohli and Parthiv face no hiccup

The target was expected to be nothing, but a cakewalk. Nevertheless, it was also an opportunity for RCB to improve their net run-rate, which was dismal before the match. Virat Kohli replaced Moeen Ali as the opener and went out to bat along with Parthiv Patel. Both these men have been in decent form and wanted to trace the target at the earliest and they didn’t let an opportunity go in the powerplay.

Parthiv played his strokes freely and flayed three boundaries in the first two overs. Ravichandran Ashwin had to do something special in order for Punjab to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Hence, he brought himself into the attack. He seemed to keep the batsmen to singles after which Parthiv smacked him through the leg side to garner nine runs from the opening over.

In the next over, Patel smashed a couple of fours off Andrew Tye. Virat Kohli, at the other end, didn’t waste any time and deposited Rajpoot into the stands and then hit him for a couple of more boundaries to garner 16 runs of the fast bowler’s over. The stand notched 66 runs within the field restriction, which took the sting out of the bowlers.

By then, it was more about how much time would RCB take to score the remaining runs. The visitors eventually won the contest by ten wickets and in the 9th over. Meanwhile, from the blues, Kohli’s men have struck form and decimated Ashwin’s army. With the defeat, Punjab’s net run-rate took a massive dent and they move down the fifth position.

Brief Scores

Kings XI Punjab: 88 all out in 15.1 overs; Aaron Finch 26, KL Rahul 21; Umesh Yadav 3/23, Mohammed Siraj 1/17

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 92/0 in 8.1 overs; Virat Kohli 48*, Parthiv Patel 40; Andrew Tye 0/33, Ravichandran Ashwin 0/9

Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by ten wickets

Player of the Match: Umesh Yadav