IPL 10: Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs

Bengaluru: Kings XI Punjab kept their hopes for a knockout spot alive with a 19-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL-10 match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday evening.

Chasing 139, RCB batsmen failed to fire once again as they were skittled out for 119 in 19 overs.

Keep aside Mandeep Singh’s 40-ball 46, there was little to show for the home side’s batting. A fiery opening spell from Sandeep Sharma (3/22) that removed Chris Gayle (0), Virat Kohli (6) and AB de Villiers (10) before Mohit Sharma’s delicious slow ball put paid to Kedar Jadhav as RCB slumped to 52/4.

In what was yet another uninspired show from Shane Watson who fell to Axar Patel, Glenn Maxwell then removed Mandeep before Patel (3/11) cleaned up the tailenders.

KXIP remain fifth, three points off Sunrisers Hyderabad with one game in hand coming into the business end of the tournament.

Earlier, RCB restricted Kings XI Punjab to 138/7 with some stellar bowling effort by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/21) and Aniket Choudhary (2/17). Had it not been for a late assault by Patel (38, 17b, 3x4,2x6), it could have been much worse for the visitors.

RCB brought back Gayle and Samuel Badree in place of Travis Head and the injured Adam Milne.

The home side got off to a strong start as they removed dangerman Hashim Amla on the fifth ball. The South African chose to walk after edging Aniket Choudhary to Jadhav amidst barely half-hearted appeals.

Martin Guptill followed soon after as Kohli rotated his bowlers smartly. RCB conceded just 35 runs in Powerplay.

Shaun Marsh (20, 17b, 3x4) and Manan Vohra tried to steady the innings but Pawan Negi had the former’s number, opting to bowl around the wicket to remove the Australian.

Struggling at 39/3, Vohra and Wriddhiman Saha’s fourth-wicket stand for 21 runs gave the visitors some breathing space. Vohra put some smiles on KXIP fans’ face with a thundering strike over long on before Jadhav, whose keeping at the stumps was atrocious, missed a stumping with Saha batting at one.

KXIP went down to 61/4 when Vohra failed to read Chahal’s lofted ball and handed an easy catch to de Villiers at long on.

Captain Glenn Maxwell (6, 11b, 1x4) walked back as his panache for the unorthodox ended with a reverse slog into the hands of Samuel Badree off Chahal.

Scorecard
Kings XI Punjab: H. Amla c Jadhav b Choudhary 1, M. Guptill c Negi b Aravind 9, S. Marsh c Mandeep b Negi 20, M. Vohra c de Villiers b Chahal 25, W. Saha b Watson 21, G. Maxwell c Badree b Chahal 6, A. Patel (not out) 38, M. Sharma c Jadhav b Choudhary 6, V. Aaron (not out) 0. Extras: (b8, lb1, w3) 12. Total: (for 7 wkts, in 20 overs) 138.
FoW: 1-2, 2-18, 3-39, 4-61, 5-78, 6-112, 7-119.
Bowling: Choudhary 4-1-17-2, Aravind 2-0-13-1, Watson 4-0-43-1 (1w), Badree 3-0-14-0, Negi 3-0-21-1, Chahal 4-0-21-2 (2w).

Royal Challengers Bangalore: M. Singh b Maxwell 46, C. Gayle c Guptill b Sandeep 0, V. Kohli b Sandeep Sharma 6, AB de Villiers c Saha b Sandeep 10, K. Jadhav c Patel b Sharma 6, S. Watson c Saha b Patel 3, P. Negi c Saha b Patel 21, S. Aravind lbw b Maxwell 4, S. Badree b Patel 8, A. Choudhary c Guptill b Sharma 4, Y. Chahal (not out) 4. Extras: (lb4, w3) 7. Total: (in 19 overs) 119
FoW: 1-1, 2-23, 3-37, 4-52, 5-71, 6-73, 7-87, 8-111, 9-111, 10-119
Bowling: Sandeep 4-0-22-3, Natarajan 1-0-15-0, Aaron 4-0-28-0 (2w), Mohit 4-0-24-2, Patel 3-0-11-3, Maxwell 3-0-15-2 (1w)