Du Plessis, Siraj lead RCB to victory

New Delhi (Best Hindu News): After the fifties of openers Faf du Plessis (84) and Virat Kohli (59), the outstanding bowling of Mohammad Siraj (21/4) helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) win the Indian Premier League (IPL). I defeated Punjab Kings by 24 runs on Thursday.

Despite poor batting in the last over, RCB set a target of 175 runs in front of Punjab. In response, the host team was all out for 150 runs in 18.2 overs.

For Punjab, Prabhsimran Singh top-scored with 46 off 30 balls while Jitesh Sharma scored 41 off 27 balls. Punjab needed 30 runs in three overs with Jitesh also present at the crease, however, Siraj turned the match around by taking two wickets in the 18th over for just four runs. Harshal Patel ended Punjab’s innings by taking the wicket of Jitesh in the 19th over.

Punjab won the toss and decided to bowl but did not get any help from the pitch in the initial overs. Kohli and du Plessis added 59 runs while batting aggressively in the powerplay. Captain Sam Karan handed the ball to the spinners in an attempt to stop the pace of runs, but Du Plessis completed his half-century in 31 balls.

RCB were on their way to 200 by scoring 91 runs in 10 overs, however from then on Punjab started tightening the grip on the match. RCB got only one boundary between 12th to 14th over. Kohli hit Nathan Ellis for a six in the 15th over, however, Harpreet Brar dealt two major blows to RCB by dismissing him and Glenn Maxwell in the 17th over.

Kohli shared a 137-run partnership with du Plessis, scoring 59 runs off 47 balls with the help of five fours and a six, although both played a total of 16 overs for this. After some time du Plessis also returned to the pavilion after scoring 84 runs off 56 balls (five fours, five sixes).

RCB could not take advantage of the last over and scored 174/4 by adding just 20 runs in the last 12 balls.

Even though Rahul Chahar did not get any wicket, but he stopped RCB’s innings from gaining momentum by giving just 24 runs in four overs. Harpreet took two wickets for 31 runs in three overs, while Arshdeep Singh achieved success by giving 34 runs in four overs.

RCB bowlers put pressure on Punjab by taking wickets in the powerplay. Siraj got Atharva Tayde lbw after hitting a boundary in the first over. Kohli, who was captaining in du Plessis’s absence, handed the ball to leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga for Matthew Short, who bowled him first ball.

In his next over, Siraj dismissed Harpreet Singh Bhatia with a spectacular throw after dismissing Liam Livingston. Meanwhile, Prabhsimran made a comeback by hitting Hasaranga for two sixes in the ninth over, although half of the Punjab team reached the pavilion with the runout of Sam Karan in the 10th over.

Brar supported Prabhsimran for some time in the midst of frequent falling wickets, although Prabhsimran himself fell victim to Wayne Parnell’s reverse swing in the 12th over. The return of Shahrukh, who was explosive in the previous match, to some extent relieved RCB, although wicket-keeper batsman Jitesh kept Punjab alive in the match.

Jitesh added 11 runs in the 15th over by hitting Hasaranga for a six, while in the next over he hit Vijaykumar Vishak for a six and a four. RCB were in dire need of a wicket at this point. Harshal Patel bowled very tight in the 17th over, which Siraj got the result in the next over. He bowled Brar and Nathan Ellis in the 18th over to finish with four wickets in his four overs.

It was Jitesh’s responsibility to win the hosts after Punjab’s nine wickets fell. He tried to hit a big shot on the second ball of the 19th over and hit the ball straight into the hands of the fielder.

With this win, RCB have moved to the fifth position in the points table, while Punjab are at the seventh position. RCB’s next match will be against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday.