Toby Marshall
In the 27th match of IPL 2023, Royal Challengers Bangalore emerged victorious against Punjab Kings by a margin of 24 runs at the latter’s home ground in Mohali. Sam Curran won the toss and put Bangalore into bat first. RCB’s batting was bolstered by impressive knocks from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, enabling them to post a total of 174/4 in 20 overs.
PBKS struggled during their innings and were bowled out for 150 runs in 18.2 overs. Due to Faf’s injury, Virat took on the captaincy role for RCB, while Faf acted as a substitute player, taking advantage of the new rule. Additionally, Shikhar Dhawan was also not fully recovered from his injury, prompting Sam Curran to lead Punjab Kings.
RCB was put in to bat and got off to a flying start, with Kohli and du Plessis scoring at almost 10 runs an over in the PowerPlay and PBKS’ frontline bowlers failed to take any wickets. Although Arshdeep Singh and Sam Curran tried to use the short-ball ploy, it was ineffective as RCB raced to a score of 91 for no loss in 10 overs.
With both Kohli and du Plessis hitting boundaries with ease, RCB appeared to be heading towards a total of 185 or more, but their scoring rate slowed down dramatically in the last 10 overs, resulting in only 83 runs being scored.
Kohli had a difficult time and struggled for a while against the spinners. Harpreet Brar managed to take the wickets of both Kohli and Australian Glenn Maxwell in consecutive deliveries. This shifted the momentum in favor of PBKS. After du Plessis was dismissed by Nathan Ellis, Dinesh Karthik wasn’t able to slog effectively, and RCB struggled to add to their total.
RCB quickly bounced back after losing ground by striking twice in the powerplay with Mohammed Siraj trapping Atharva Taide and Livingstone. With these two wickets, Siraj increased his powerplay tally to six for the season.
Siraj returned in the death overs to wrap up the Kings’ chase, despite Jitesh’s late counterattack which brought the equation down to 30 off 18 balls. The 18th over saw Siraj knocking over Brar and Ellis, costing only four runs.
Despite the Kings being 43 for 4 in the powerplay, they managed to get close to the target thanks to contributions from Prabhsimran Singh and Jitesh.
Despite Prabhsimran Singh’s valiant efforts, the Kings’ chase was dealt a major blow when he fell four runs short of his half-century. Jitesh then briefly kept them in the chase with his counterattack, but eventually, Siraj and Harshal Patel got rid of him and the remaining batsmen to dismiss the Kings for 150, thus allowing RCB to climb up to fifth place in the standings.
The preparations for the much-awaited 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League have kickstarted with a bang. Just like the previous year, the tournament will feature a total of ten teams including Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings, Gujarat Titans, Lucknow Super Giants, Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Punjab Kings, and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Lucknow Super Giants put on a stunning power-hitting display led by Marcus Stoinis and Kyle Mayers, leading them to a 56-run victory over Punjab Kings in a high-scoring IPL match on Friday. With Stoinis smashing 72 off 40 balls and Mayers contributing 54 off 24, the Lucknow Super Giants set a massive target of 257 for five against a weak Punjab Kings bowling attack.
