Jansen and CO. restricted RCB to 95 on their home ground / IPL.com
What a week Punjab Kings fans are having. After failing to defend a 240+ score, they bounced back by defending 111 in the next match and have now managed to chase down a modest target of 96—despite a slight scare toward the end. Some excellent bowling by Arshdeep, Chahal, and Jansen restricted RCB to just 95 in a rain-affected 14-over match. PBKS chased it down after a few hiccups in the middle phase. RCB, meanwhile, have now lost all three of their home games this season.
The match was reduced to 14 overs per side due to rain. PBKS captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and elected to field. They made one change—Stoinis came in for Maxwell—while RCB remained unchanged.
PBKS XI: Priyansh Arya, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Shashank Singh, Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis (wk), Marcus Stoinis, Marco Jansen, Harpreet Brar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh
Subs: Prabhsimran Singh, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Glenn Maxwell, Suryansh Shedge, Pravin Dubey
RCB XI: Virat Kohli, Phil Salt, Rajat Patidar (capt), Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal, Suyash Sharma
Subs: Devdutt Padikkal, Rasikh Salam, Manoj Bhandage, Jacob Bethell, Swapnil Singh
RCB looked for a strong start, with Salt smashing the first ball of the match for four. But both he and Kohli fell soon after, attempting pull shots and skying the ball. Rajat Patidar looked in positive touch, but lacked support as wickets kept falling like dry leaves.
The collapse was so sudden that RCB had to bring in a substitute impact player, but that didn’t help. They were soon 7 down with just 42 on the board. Only Tim David understood the pitch well, settling in first before launching a few fabulous strokes at the end to push RCB to 95.
PBKS bowlers were outstanding, keeping it tight and not offering room to swing freely. Marco Jansen gave away just 10 runs in his 3 overs and took 2 wickets. Chahal was equally economical, conceding only 11 and also taking 2 wickets. Arshdeep and Harpreet Brar also took two wickets each.
Punjab’s innings started similarly to RCB’s but with a little more caution. Although they didn’t lose early wickets, boundaries were hard to come by. A few lucky edges helped get the scoreboard ticking. However, both openers were dismissed trying to pull short deliveries and miscuing them.
Iyer and Inglis played some quiet overs until Hazlewood returned and dismissed both in the same over, tightening the screws on PBKS. Things started looking tense, but Wadhera’s arrival shifted the momentum.
He took on Suyash Sharma, hitting a six and a four in one over to ease the pressure. His crucial 33 off 19 proved to be the turning point in a low-scoring game. Stoinis later came in and sealed the win with 11 balls to spare.
Despite being on the losing side, Tim David was awarded Player of the Match for his brilliant 50 off just 26 balls.
