Akshar Patel’s all-round show helped Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) ease past Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 19 runs in Match 43 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2017 in a low-scoring encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. RCB were in trouble early in their chase. Chris Gayle was dismissed on the fourth ball of the innings for a duck. Also, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers too were back in the pavilion for 6 and 10 respectively. Mandeep Singh, who opened with Gayle was looking in good touch. But RCB at the end of the powerplay were reduced to 46 for 3 — all three wickets falling to Sandeep Sharma.
They were going at a good rate, but had lost 3 wickets — all of which could have been avoided. KXIP knew only wickets can win them the game and went all guns blazing to achieve that. Glenn Maxwell decided to bowl Sandeep out. The fast bowler did not disappoint as he finished with figures of 3 for 22. Mohit Sharma in his first over removed Kedar Jadhav for 6, which put RCB in further trouble. Shane Watson, who was short of runs in this tournament thus far, needed to put all his experience into play and take RCB over the line, along with Mandeep.
Things got better for KXIP as Mandeep’s valiant innings was brought to an end by Maxwell in his very first over. Mandeep held the innings together till then but was dismissed for 46 off 40. KXIP were right on top at that point, with two new batsmen at the crease. RCB crawled their way past 100 in the 16th over, but had lost 7 wickets by then. Negi was their only hope. But he and Badree were removed by Akshar off consecutive deliveries, which put RCB completely out of contention. Akshar eventually finished with figures of 3 for 11 to go with his unbeaten 38 earlier in the match.
Earlier, RCB skipper Kohli won the toss and elected to bowl first. His bowlers delivered and kept the KXIP batsmen in check. Sadly, for them, like previous games, their batsmen failed to chase a modest target down. Their top-order batsmen played rash shots to get out and left the middle and lower order with too much to do.
RCB roped in Samuel Badree and Gayle in place of Adam Milne and Travis Head respectively. KXIP on the other hand, went in with an unchanged side, which thrashed Delhi Daredevils (DD) by 10 wickets in their previous match. With this loss, RCB have now lost 4 games in a row. KXIP, on the other hand, have managed to keep their campaign alive.
Brief Scores:
Kings XI Punjab 138 for 7 in 20 overs (Manan Vohra 25, Akshar Patel 38*; Aniket Choudhary 2 for 17, Yuzvendra Chahal 2 for 21) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 119 in 19 overs (Mandeep Singh 46, Pawan Negi 21; Sandeep Sharma 3 for 22, Akshar Patel 3 for 11) by 20 runs.
Man of the match: Sandeep Sharma
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