After an inconsistent start to the tournament King XI Punjab (KXIP) jumped into form at the right time of the Indian Premier League season V.  KXIP took a huge step towards the playoffs and after losing their first leg matchup against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mohali exacted their revenge and beat them by four wickets in the 44thmatch of the tournament yesterday at Bangalore to move to fourth position on points table.

Royal Challengers Bangalore who had a slow start increased their tempo just after the halfway mark and the duo of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli batted well to put them on course to a huge total. But some great death bowling by Punjab in the end clamped Bangalore back and they could manage only 158.

In reply, Punjab started off well and it looked scale down the target with ease. But some last moments chaos included three quick run-outs sure did give them some tense moments but they held on to their ground to eventually win the tie by four wickets.
Here are some of the performances which mattered and shaped the course of the match:

Kings XI Punjab:

Hits:

Mandeep Singh: Mandeep Singh who lost his opening partner Shaun Marsh early in the innings played an attacking knock at the start of the innings. He gave an ideal start to their chase much to the delight of KXIP. He scored 43 of 30 deliveries which included six fours and a six.

Nitin Saini: Nitin who came into bat after Shaun Marsh departed played a very well composed knock to clinch his maiden half century. He understood the need of the hour and batted with maturity. His knock laid the platform for a good chase. He scored 50 of 36 deliveries which was laced with five fours.

David Hussey: Hussey was on a six hitting spree. He made sure that the good work done by the youngsters Saini and Mandeep did not go to waste. He took the attack to the bowlers and scored a quick fire 45 0f 29 deliveries consisting of two fours and four sixes.

Azhar Mahmood: Azhar Mahmood impressed with his performance. One of the seasoned T20 campaigners, Mahmood was the reason as to why Bangalore looking well poised to past 180 could not do so. He bowled brilliantly, made important breakthroughs and most important of all was very economical. His four overs spell yielded his three wickets and he gave away just 20 runs.

Flops:

Piyush Chawla: Bangalore was going at an easy rate, but it was his from his first over that RCB broke free and started to shift gears. He bowled wayward lengths, something not seen often from Chawla. He went for 35 in three overs and scalped one wicket.

Royal Challengers Bangalore

Hits:

Chris Gayle: No surprise to this. As usual Chris Gayle led the batting chart of RCB. He started off a little slow but broke free later in the innings. He was especially harsh on Parwinder Awana and Piyush Chawla. Gayle’s 42 balls stay at the crease yielded him 71 runs which included six fours and four sixes.

Virat Kohli: Even though Bangalore lost the match, they would heave a sigh of relief as their star batsmen Virat Kohli came to form. He played a well composed knock of 45 in 42 deliveries which was laced with three fours and two sixes.

Flops:

Batting: After a good performance by Gayle and Kohli the other batsmen who came in could not execute properly to surrender meekly to Punjab’s bowling.



By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury

Indian Sports News