RCB rout PBKS with an impeccable all-round display

It was another rollicking outing for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they pulled off their fourth consecutive win of this year’s IPL, propelling their overall tally to five wins and keeping their play-off hopes alive till the very last ember. Riding high on an all-round display of dominion, RCB chronicled a double against Punjab Kings in the ongoing edition of the tournament.

Winning the toss at Dharamsala, the Punjab captain, Sam Curran opted to field first. One of the major changes made by RCB ahead of the fixture was the introduction of Lockie Ferguson in place of Glenn Maxwell, which proved to be an instrumental change later in the game.

RCB had a couple of early hiccups as Virat Kohli could have gone in the first over had it not been for a squandered chance. He was dropped again moments later, this time though, the catch being a lot more difficult than the first one. To add to the woes of the Royal Challengers, they lost their captain, Faf du Plessis (9) early.

However, once the wee jitters were shaken off, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru were back to their effusive best as Virat Kohli took over the reins while Will Jacks helped him to steer along from the other end. Jacks couldn’t really latch onto the bandwagon as he fell for 12 with former RCB fast-bowler, Harshal Patel clinging onto a brilliant catch at short fine-leg.

Rajat Patidar was the next man coming in and he could have also gone first ball if not for a dropped catch at deep fine-leg where Harshal Patel made a hash of affairs. However, Rajat Patidar was quick to learn from his mistake and hit his signature stride back as he started clobbering the bowlers into every nook and cranny of the park.

Patidar and Kohli added 76 runs from just 32 balls with the former hammering 55 off just 23 while Kohli kept the battery at an all-time high. Despite Sam Curran removing Patidar, Cameron Green chimed in with another herculean cameo, holding onto the other end while Kohli upped the tempo by leaps and bounds.

The duo piled up 92 runs off just 46 balls that saw both the batters shining bright in tantamount brilliance as Kohli inched closer to his century mark while Green was happy to motor along at jet speed. The former RCB skipper finally fell for a scintillating 92 off just 47 balls, holing out to Rilee Rossouw at sweeper cover.

An incoming Dinesh Karthik cooked up another short burst of pyrotechnics, hammering away at will as RCB finished their innings at 241/7. A late pull-back from Harshal Patel threw an unwanted spanner in the ever-shining plans of the Royal Challengers from getting another 250-plus total but the numbers already looked daunting enough.

The RCB bowlers hunkered down to business in no time whatsoever as Swapnil Singh produced the all-important scalp of Prabhsimran Singh. However, the Kings fought back through Rilee Rossouw and Jonny Bairstow as the duo posted 65 runs for the second wicket.

Lockie Ferguson produced the big wicket of Bairstow (27) as he forced him to a delivery going away from him while Faf du Plessis pulled off a sensational grab running forth a mile before putting in a full-stretched dive.

The fall of Bairstow however, did very little to deter the spirits of the Kings as Rossouw was in no mood to stop whatsoever and he was joined by Shashank Singh at the other end, upping the ante in the face of the ever-growing odds. It was Karn Sharma who proved to be the undoing of the Proteas hard-hitter as Rossouw holed out to Will Jacks at long-on for a 27-ball-61.

Karn struck again in quick succession, bamboozling Jitesh Sharma with a screamer that pitched on the middle and the leg stump before skidding on to the off-pole to leave Punjab sliding down in the meat grinder. Liam Livingstone was gone even before he could realise what hit him as he miscued his strike and ended up playing one straight down the throat of Karn Sharma at short cover.

Shashank Singh (37) looked in good touch and was barely keeping the hopes alive alongside his skipper Sam Curran. However, a collision with Faf du Plessis on an earlier delivery left him dizzy and the very following ball saw him falling short of the crease with Virat Kohli conjuring a magical display in the field with a direct-hit from range despite losing his balance.

It was the departure of Shashank that pretty much was the final nail in the coffin of Punjab despite Sam Curran still being out in the center. Ashutosh Sharma (8) was no match for Mohammed Siraj with the latter catching him with a stunner on his pads that would have gone on to hit his pads.

Lockie Ferguson sprinkled a bit of his own stardust as he rammed through the defences of Sam Curran to deracinate his timbre before Siraj came back to deal a double whammy that would eventually snuff out the remainder of the Punjab resistance. RCB won the match by a staggering 60 runs while Virat Kohli was adjudged the Player of the Match.