It was a night for the big-hitters, and those in the Punjab Kings camp eventually came out winners against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Mumbai, in a thrilling and high-scoring contest. Punjab had West Indies’ Odean Smith (25 not out of 8 balls) to thank as he produced a scintillating late attack on Mohammed Siraj to help his side win the contest by 5 wickets.
Faf du Plessis and Dinesh Karthik had started things off earlier with Virat Kohli for company, before Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Shahrukh Khan and Smith put the long handle to excellent use, chasing down a mammoth 205-run target with an over to spare.
Batting first, skipper Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat were keen to start quickly and while the Indian batter looked the more aggressive, neither could really do much damage, as they found it tough to get the gaps initially.
After a powerplay which produced 41 runs for RCB, Rawat, who scored 21 of 20 deliveries, was the first to depart when Rahul Chahar cleaned him up, and the crowd cheered as Virat Kohli walked in.
Faf at the other end was taking his time to get going, but Kohli came out looking to attack right from the get-go, and broke the shackles when he smashed Harpreet Brar for six straight back over his head in the 10th over.
After 10 overs, RCB were 70/1, desperately in need of upping the ante in the second half of the innings to get a good score on the board. The batters switched gears, as Faf took the attack to the bowlers. Liam Livingstone’s first over went for 14 runs after which Odean Smith conceded 23, as Faf completed his half-century in the 13th over, having gone through gears very swiftly. Early in the innings in fact, Smith almost had Faf’s wicket when he was on 7 but Shahrukh Khan could not hold on to a tough chance at midwicket, which was proving to be quite costly.
In came Harpreet Brar at the other end in the 14th over, his third, and got hammered for three sixes in a 21-run over, as RCB’s run-rate improved dramatically, and the platform was set for a big score. Both batters were scoring at a fast rate, stepping down the track with great confidence to find the big hits.
Rahul Chahar bowled out in the next over and finished with figures of 1/22 in his four overs, with RCB looking to tee off in the last five overs with the score at 142/1. Midway through the 16th over, Faf’s sixth six brought up the century stand between him and Kohli, with neither quite ready to let up yet. He ended the over with another six as Punjab looked to be in deep trouble.
Of the first delivery in the 18th over, Arshdeep Singh struck, giving Punjab a much-needed breakthrough, when Faf was caught by Shahrukh at long off for 88. Faf’s brutal assault saw him smash 7 sixes and 3 boundaries.
Dinesh Karthik joined Kohli in the middle, and after a surprisingly quite 18th over, the new man started off the 19th with a six over fine leg of Odean Smith. Karthik then hammered him for another four and six. It was more of the same from Karthik in the final over as well, after Kohli handed him the strike after the first delivery. Karthik took 14 off that over as RCB posted 205/2 with Punjab conceding 135 runs in the last 10 overs.
In response, Punjab also started off quite well with Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal opening the innings, and getting starts. The duo were scoring at 10 runs an over for the most part of their stand, finding boundaries with relative ease.
The openers put on a solid 71-run stand before, in the 8th over, Wanindu Hasaranga found the breakthrough, sending the captain, Mayank Agarwal, back for 32 of 24 deliveries. Mayank had smashed two boundaries and as many sixes.
At the other end, Dhawan, too wasn’t far behind, scoring a quickfire 43 of 29 deliveries, with five boundaries a six to his name. Dhawan looked set for a big knock, before Harshal Patel managed to deceive him and have him caught by Anuj Rawat.
Along with Dhawan, Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa was also making quite the mark in the IPL, as he attacked Hasaranga and hammered him to all parts of the ground. Rajapaksa smashed 4 massive sixes and two boundaries, before Mohammed Siraj had his number.
Rajapaksa was single-handedly ensuring there would be enough cause for concern in the RCB camp before he was dismissed. Of the next delivery, Siraj struck again, removing Raj Bawa for a golden duck, trapped LBW, to give RCB the edge in the contest.
Once Siraj struck twice, Punjab seemed to have the stuffing knocked out of them and Liam Livingstone was the next to head back in the 15th over, when Akash Deep had him caught in the deep by Rawat for 19 of 10 balls. However, the target was still very much in reach, with Shahrukh Khan and Odean Smith, both big hitters, in the middle. Shahrukh finished Hasaranga’s spell with a six back over his head, bringing the equation to 44 runs needed in the final 4 overs.
RCB though had Harshal Patel with a couple of overs up his sleeve and he bowled a tight over, before Smith took on Siraj, pummelling him for 3 sixes and a boundary in the 18th over to put the game a knife-edge. Siraj conceded 25 runs of the over which left Punjab needing 11 of the final 12 deliveries.
Shahrukh (24 of 20 balls) smashed Harshal for a six and four and was helped by a wide in the 19th over, as Punjab completed a brilliant chase, to register their first win of the season.
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