In the 48th match of the IPL 2018, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kings XI Punjab by 10 wickets at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. Deviating from the usual, RCB’s success was marked by a bowling attack that derailed Punjab’s inning. After decimating Punjab’s inning to just 89 runs, RCB had captain Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel wreaking havoc on opposition bowlers. With this defeat, KXIP slipped to 5th position on the points table.
Earlier, RCB won the toss and opted to bowl against Kings XI Punjab. Punjab’s inning had just taken off but crashed as soon as RCB took three quick wickets, including Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul. The next few batsmen came but just for a brief and not much was left for Punjab after the debacle with the bat. The bowlers, especially Umesh Yadav, left no room for any leniency for the batsmen.
Finch gave hope to Punjab but perished soon. Punjab’s inning soon hit the dead end. All Punjab had was a disappointing total of 88 runs on the scoreboard. Just three batsmen managed to touch the double-digit mark for Punjab. For RCB, chasing a meagre target of 89 runs, Captain Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel were cautious initially but then the ball was often seen crossing the rope after that.
At around 12 runs per over, the scoreboard was enough to depict RCB’s dominance. Punjab’s bowlers had nothing much to defend and the one-sided affair reached it’s conclusion soon.
“Ankit Vaishnav”
