IPL 10: Bangalore suffer yet another defeat, lose by 61 runs to Pune

Pune: Formidable Royal Challengers Bangalore  led by India captain Virat Kohli became first team to drop out of contention for the play-offs after a 61-run defeat against Rising Pune Supergiant in an Indian  Premier League encounter, here on Saturday.

Although the RCB bowlers managed to keep the Pune batsmen  on a tight leash restricting them to 157/3, another shoddy batting performance saw them finish at a dismal  96/9 after 20 overs.

While Pune kept themselves in contention with their fifth  win in nine games, RCB are practically out of the tournament  with their seventh defeat in 10 games and only five points in  their kitty.

Pune’s bowlers rose to the occasion defending a sub-par  total with a controlled bowling performance.

Imran Tahir was the pick of the bowlers with figures of  3/18 from four overs, while Lockie Ferguson claimed 2/7 in  four overs to claim the man of the match award.

Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Christian and Washington Sundar  took one wicket each.

This is one of the rarest occasions when a team has been  bundled out below 100 runs twice in the Indian Premier League.

RCB were shot out for 49 by KKR in an earlier game in the  tournament. Chasing a modest 158, Bangalore just kept losing wickets  despite skipper Kohli holding his ground at one end.

Apart from Kohli, who came up with an uncharacteristic  48-ball-55, studded with four boundaries and a six, none of  the other RCB batsmen could reach the double-digit mark.

Though not in his usual aggressive self, Kohli single-  handedly tried his best to bail the team out of trouble but  just did not find an able partner at the other end.

The highest partnership of just 21 runs tells the dismal  saga of a vaunted batting line-up.  The visitors were gasping at 48/5 in the 10th over  and there was no time when RCB showed any signs of revival.

Kohli only reduced the margin of defeat with a gritty  knock.

Earlier, RCB bowlers dominated the proceedings from the  word go after inviting the Pune outfit to take first strike,  with left-arm spinner Pawan Negi returning with impressive  figures of 1/18 from his 4 overs.

Stuart Binny (1/17) and Windies leggie Samuel Badree (1/31) chipped in  with a wicket apiece.

Despite losing just three wickets, Pune batsmen could not  upped the ante even though the pitch was reasonably batting-  friendly.

Skipper Steven Smith top scored with 32-ball-45 that  included five boundaries and a six, while Manoj Tiwary (44 no,  35 balls) and opener Rahul Tripathi (37) also made important  contributions.

However, Pune could bring up the 100 runs only in the 14th  over.

Even Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who hit a huge six and a  boundary during his unbeaten 21 off 17 failed to increase the  tempo in the final overs. Dhoni and Tiwary could put up only  46 runs in the last five overs.

Scorecard
Rising Pune Supergiant: A. Rahane c Milne b Badree 6, R. Tripathi c Jadhav b Negi 37, S. Smith c Milne b Binny 45, M. Tiwary (not out) 44, M. Dhoni (not out) 21. Extras: (lb1, w3) 4. Total: (for 3 wkts, in 20 overs) 157.
FoW: 1-18, 2-58, 3-108.
Bowling: Milne 4-0-35-0 (2w), Badree 4-0-31-1, Aravind 4-0-30-0, Chahal 2-0-25-0, Negi 4-0-18-1 (1w), Binny 2-0-17-1.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: T. Head b Unadkat 2, V. Kohli c sub (M. Agarwal) b Christian 55, AB de Villiers c Tiwary b Ferguson 3, K. Jadhav run out (Ferguson/Dhoni) 7, Sachin Baby c Smith b Washington Sundar 2, S. Binny c Washington Sundar b Ferguson 1, P . Negi c Christian b Imran Tahir 3, A.F. Milne c Smith b Imran Tahir 5, S. Badree b Imran Tahir 2, S. Aravind (not out) 8, Y. Chahal (not out) 4.
Extras: (lb 2, w 2) 4. Total: (for 9 wkts, in 20 overs) 96.
FoW: 1-11, 2-32, 3-44, 4-47, 5-48, 6-61, 7-71, 8-82, 9-84.
Bowling: Chahar 2-0-18-0, Unadkat 4-0-19-1 (1w), Ferguson 4-1-7-2 (1w), Christian 4-0-25-1, Tahir 4-0-18-3, Washington 2-0-7-1.