Faf du Plessis and Mohammed Siraj’s joint brilliance propels RCB to a clinical win over PBKS

Courtesy of a comfortable win for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Mohali, there was quite a shakeup in the IPL 2023 points table as the men in Red & Gold moved to the 5th spot on the points table.

Winning the toss, Punjab’s stopgap skipper, Sam Curran opted to bowl first. RCB opted to use Faf du Plessis as an Impact Player after he copped an injury to his ribs in the last game, which saw Virat Kohli walk out to the middle for the toss. 

Curran won the toss and put RCB into bat, and right from the word go, RCB’s openers Faf and Kohli were at their dominating best, taking on the bowling without any fuss. The duo put on 59 at the end of the powerplay stage, and even though it seemed like they slowed down a bit in the middle overs, the scoreboard kept ticking. However, Harpreet Brar dealt a double whammy that included back-to-back wickets of Kohli (59) and Glenn Maxwell (0) which sparked an unprecedented slowdown towards the end for RCB.

Du Plessis top-scored for RCB with a 56-ball-84 that helped him retain the Orange Cap while Virat Kohli was the second-highest-scorer for the team with 59 from 47 balls. RCB managed to post 174 on the scorecard, a figure that somewhat looked subpar after a feisty start.

Yet, what followed was quite a jubilant setting for the visitors’ fans. The RCB bowlers, spearheaded by Mohammed Siraj, who himself dealt two crucial blows in the powerplay featuring to remove Atharva Taide and the dangerous Liam Livingstone, made the chase quite a herculean task for PBKS. Wanindu Hasaranga beat Matt Short’s swing of the blade to peg back his leg stump and Siraj continued to make an impact with a direct hit at the non-striker’s end as Punjab were left tottering at 43/4 at the end of the powerplay. 

Jitesh Sharma’s late charge against RCB saw him amassing 41 runs from just 27 balls while Prabhsimran Singh, who came on as the Impact Player was the other beacon of hope for the Punjab Kings, scoring 46 off 30. Despite the two decent knocks coming in unison, the RCB bowlers banked on disciplined line and length to leave the Punjab Kings short of the finish line by 24 runs. Mohammed Siraj was the star of the show as he continued his fine haul, extending his phenomenal run to another glorious chapter, finishing with figures of 4-0-21-4. RCB returned to winning ways, drubbing Punjab Kings by 24 runs.