Mohali: Faf du Plessis played a special knock despite a rib injury before Mohammed Siraj produced his best figures in the IPL to set up a 24-run win for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Punjab Kings here on Thursday. Playing as an 'Impact Player' due to his injury, Du Plessis plundered 84 off 56 balls and shared a 137-run opening wicket stand with stand-in captain Virat Kohli (59 off 47) to steer RCB to 174 for four after being put in to bat.
Though in-form skipper Shikhar Dhawan was unavailable for the second game in a row, Punjab had enough firepower to chase down 175 but lost too many wickets at the start of the chase. Siraj delivered with wickets with the new ball as well as in the death overs to end up with 4/21 in four overs and secure a welcome victory for his team. Jitesh Sharma's counter-attacking 41 off 27 for Punjab went in vain.
It was RCB's third win in six games while Punjab suffered their third loss in six matches. Siraj was too hot to handle in the powerplay as he removed left-hander Atharva Taide with a sharp inswinger off the second ball of the innings before removing the dangerous Liam Livingstone in the fourth over. Both lbw dismissals came after successful DRS reviews.
Wanindu Hasaranga then castled Matthew Short with a googly before run-outs of Sam Curran and Harpreet Bhatia made matters worse for the home team. At 97 for six, the game looked done and dusted but Jitesh Sharma kept Punjab in the game with some clean hitting, especially down the ground. He ran out of partners eventually.
Earlier, at 91 for no loss in 10 overs, RCB were on course for 200 plus total but Punjab bowled well in the middle and death overs to restrict the opposition. Du Plessis hammered five sixes and as many fours in his belligerent knock. Like he often does, the former South Africa skipper was not afraid to show his stumps to the spinners to free his arms for the big shots.
Kohli made 59 off 47 balls though the first half of his innings was more fluent. It was the fourth fifty plus score for the RCB openers this season, highlighting their consistency. RCB would be a tad disappointment with the total they ended up with after a flying start from du Plessis and Kohli, who fired their team to 59 for no loss in the powerplay.
Arshdeep Singh and Curran employed the short-ball tactic against du Plessis and Kohli with the new ball but it did not work. The Indian star began with his trademark cover drive off spinner Harpreet Brar before pulling a short ball from Arshdeep over short fine leg for another four in the third over.
Du Plessis got going with a couple of sixes off Brar, who opened the bowling alongside Arshdeep. The South African made room for a massive straight six over Brar's head and followed it up with another one wide of long on. However, his best of the lot was the straight six off pacer Nathan Ellis as he stood sill to slap it over the bowler's head. RCB could only manage 83 runs off the last 60 balls. Rahul Chahar and Sam Curran could not take wickets but did not allow the batters to break free.
IPL SCOREBOARD: PBKS vs RCB
Punjab Kings:
Atharva Taidelbw b Siraj 4
Prabhsimran Singhb Parnell 46
Matthew Shortb W Hasaranga 8
Liam Livingstonelbw b Siraj 2
Harpreet Singh Bhatia run out (Siraj) 13
Sam Curran run out (W Hasaranga) 10
Jitesh Sharma c Shahbaz Ahmed b Harshal Patel 41
Shahrukh Khanst Karthik b W Hasaranga 7
Harpreet Brarb Siraj13
Nathan Ellisb Siraj1
Arshdeep Singh not out 0
Extras: (B-1,LB-1,W-2, NB-1) 5
Total: (all out in 18.2 overs) 150
Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-20, 3-27, 4-43, 5-76, 6-97, 7-106, 8-147, 9-149, 10-150.
Bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-21-4, Wayne Parnell 3-0-32-1, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva 4-0-39-2, Vijaykumar Vyshak 3-0-29-0, Glenn Maxwell 1-0-5-0, Harshal Patel 3.2-0-22-1.
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Innings report:
Mohali: Stand-in skipper Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis stuck half-centuries and were involved in a 137-run opening partnership as Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 174 for four in their IPL match against Punjab Kings here on Thursday. Kohli, leading the side as du Plessis is an impact player for the match, struck a 47-ball 59 studded with five fours and a six, while Du Plessis made 84 off 56 deliveries, with five fours and an equal number of sixes.
Harpreet Brar emerged the leading PBKS wicket-taker with figures of 2/31 in three overs. Sam Curran led PBKS for the second consecutive match as Shikhar Dhawan is nursing a shoulder niggle. England batter Liam Livingstone finally got the nod in the playing XI along with Nathan Ellis.
IPL SCOREBOARD: PBKS vs RCB
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli c Sharma b Brar 59
Faf du Plessis c Curran b Ellis 84
Glenn Maxwell c Taide b Brar 0
Dinesh Karthik c Taide b Singh 7
Mahipal Lomror not out 7
Shahbaz Ahmed not out 5
Extras: (LB-8 W-3 NB-1) 12
Total: (For 4 wickets in 20 overs) 174
Fall of wickets: 1/137 2/137 3/151 4/163
Bowling: Arshdeep Singh 4-0-34-1, Harpreet Brar 3-0-31-2, Nathan Ellis 4-0-41-1, Sam Curran 4-0-27-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-24-0, Liam Livingstone 1-0-9-0.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 174/4 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 59, Faf du Plessis 84; Harpreet Brar 2/31).
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Mohali: Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Thursday won the toss and elected to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) here at Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in the 27th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Virat Kohli will captain the side in today's match as Faf du Plessis has injury concerns, although he would feature as an impact player in the game. While for the Punjab side, Liam Livingstone, who was nursing an injury earlier has been included in the side and will provide plenty of firepower but concerns remain on how he would fare after coming back from the injury.
At the toss, RCB's skipper Virat Kohli said, "Faf potentially can't be fielding today, so he'll be playing as a impact player, switching with Vyshak. We got to do what we wanted, we would have batted first, the pitch could get slow, some scruff marks will help the bowlers going deep into the game. Taking one game at a time, focussing on our own game, make the most of crunch situations, we haven't done that so far in the tournament. No other changes for us."
On the other hand, PBKS skipper Sam Curran, standing in place of injured Shikhar Dhawan said, "We will bowl first, did well in the last game and we'll take some confidence, conditions will not change a lot. Shikhar is getting closer, but he'll miss out today. He's a quality player, but the younger lot will have to shape up, Livingstone is back and we have Ellis back in place of KG."
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli(c), Faf du Plessis, Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik(w), Wanindu Hasaranga, Suyash Prabhudessai, Harshal Patel, Wayne Parnell, Mohammed Siraj
Punjab Kings (Playing XI): Atharva Taide, Matthew Short, Harpreet Singh Bhatia, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran(c), Jitesh Sharma(w), Shahrukh Khan, Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
