Kings XI Punjab snatched a sensational win from Royal Challengers Bangalore as they successfully chased down the target of 191 in just 18 overs. Riding on the David Miller’s brilliant century; Punjab won by six wickets. R Sathish and David Miller added 130 runs for the fifth wicket and they scored 99 runs in the last five overs of the innings which changed the complexion of the whole game. Half-centuries of RCB openers Chris Gayle and Chetashwar Pujara went in vain as they lost the match quite badly at PCA Stadium, Mohali.
Here we bring to you the hits and flops from the match between Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
Hits
David Miller: David Miller played a sensational knock as he scored 101 runs in just 38 balls and registered a much-needed win for his side. He scored 99 runs in last five overs with R Sathish which simply turned the tables in Kings XI favour. He smashed eight fours and seven sixes in his brilliant century.
Chris Gayle: Gayle played another fine innings as he scored 61 runs off 33 balls and showed his dominance once again. He had crucial partnership of 102 runs with Pujara which gave his side an upper-hand in this run-feast match. He didn’t have a good day with the ball as he gave away 22 runs in his one over.
Manpreet Gony: Gony was bit expensive as he ended up with the figures of 2/41 but he picked up the big wickets of Chetashwar Pujara and Chris Gayle who were looking to demolish the pace attack of Kings XI in a ruthless manner. He gave a sigh of relief to the Kings XI and brought back his side into the match.
Chetashwar Pujara: Pujara scored his maiden half-century in IPL as he scored off 51 runs off 48 balls. He played some exquisite shots which were raced away to the boundaries. He smashed eight fours in his 51 run knock.
Piyush Chawla: Chawla didn’t pick up any wicket but he restricted the flow of runs from the end. He didn’t allow either of the RCB openers to take a charge against him. He ended up with a figure of 0/26 in his four overs and did quite well.
AB De Villiers: De Villiers again played a brilliant innings as he scored 38 runs off just 19 balls. He didn’t allow bowlers to settle in and was using all his shots to decimate the bowling attack of Kings XI.
Murali Kartik: Kartik did fine job with the ball as he picked up the crucial wickets of David Hussey and Gurkeerat Singh. He gave those much needed breakthroughs but sadly his team-mates failed to capitalise on that and gave away plenty of runs in final overs.
Flops
Virat Kohli: Kohli once again got crumbled under the pressure and did some made some silly mistakes in the fielding. He dropped the catch of Miller when he was batting at the score of 41 and Miller went onto score a hundred which snatched the victory from RCB.
Shaun Marsh: Marsh couldn’t do much and was caught at extra cover when he was at the score of six runs. He needs to pull up his socks as his team needs to win every game from here on.
Vinay Kumar: Kumar again was having no clue where to bowl and because of that he went for plenty. He gave away 48 runs in his four overs and turned out to be the most expensive bowler for RCB. He needs to work hard on executing those yorkers perfectly as he bowls mostly in death overs.
Michael Neser: He turned out to be one of the worst debutant of IPL as he gave away 63 runs in his four overs which took RCB to a total of 190 runs. His inexperience was reflected in the manner he was bowling in death overs.
RP Singh: RP Singh again turned out to be a disaster for RCB as he ended up with the figures of 0/38 in his three overs. RP has failed to deliver all this season and he needs to bag those wickets quite regularly to make an impact.
David Hussey: Hussey once again failed to play a much needed innings as he got out after scoring 13 runs. He has not been in top form this season and has almost wasted his starts in all the matches that he had batted till now.
By Amit Chopa
Indian Sports News Network
