RCB batters falter in 210 chase as Punjab take home crucial points

In a long-haul tournament like the IPL, you win some and you lose some and on a bad day in office, the Challengers slumped down to an unfortunate loss after a rare fiasco from their bowlers against the Punjab Kings. Despite Hasaranga and Harshal putting in the staunchest of shifts, the batters couldn’t really come up with something significant that would have threatened the Kings.

Winning the toss, Faf du Plessis would elect to bowl first. Much to their woes, theirs strike bowler of the season, Josh Hazlewood was ripped apart into shreds by Jonny Bairstow while the Australian stood as a mere onlooker.

Siraj couldn’t come up with something great either as the Punjab willow-men, spearheaded by the two English biffers, Jonny Bairstow and Liam Livingstone scored at a brisk pace from the outset.

Despite the English dominance, RCB’s middle-over king, Wanindu Hasaranga would reel the run rate back in with a couple of important wickets in the middle. However, it was Harshal Patel who would dish out the most impressive spell in the end to contain Punjab to a chaseable total.

Virat Kohli gave the team the start that they would need to chase down the mammoth numbers on the board but would eventually fall to another hapless dismissal as Rahul Chahar would complete a comfortable take.

Given the fall in pairs being the new black for RCB in the ongoing season during their batting, Faf would depart in quick succession too, leaving a mountain to climb for his teammates.

RCB’s experiment with Mahipal Lomror wouldn’t really reap the required dividends that they were expecting as the southpaw would bang a maximum to start his innings but would fall in the following delivery trying to live by the sword.

The following partnership between Maxwell and Patidar initially galavanised a few hopes for the Challengers but after a fifty-run stand for the fourth wicket, Patidar’s misjudged effort would go straight down the gullet of Shikhar Dhawan to lift up the floodgates of pandemonium.

Maxwell would fall shortly making it a Sisyphean task for DK to perform while the wicket-keeping batter failed to continue with his bedazzling form as he would fall for cheap on a tormenting night.

Chasing 210, RCB would eventually finish their innings at 155 for the loss of 9. With the Gujarat Titans being the final opposition of the group stages, the Challengers will have to find a way to regroup if they are to make the cut for the play-offs.