Staff Reporter.
Royal Challengers Bangalore pace bowler Mohammed Siraj took four wickets to condemn the Punjab Kings to a 24-run defeat in the Tata Indian Premier League clash at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Thursday.
Chasing 175 for victory, Prabhsimrna Singh [46] and Jitesh Sharma [41] carried the Kings batting lineup as they were eventually dismissed for 150 with 10 balls to spare.
Siraj took four wickets for 21 runs, his best figures in the IPL, as that victory moved RCB to fifth place in the standings on six points after six matches played.
RCB, who were asked to bat first, witnessed another batting masterclass from openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli, sharing a sparkling 137-run partnership for the opening wicket.
Du Plessis struck 84 runs off 56 balls [5×4, 5×6] while Kohli hit 59 off 47 [5×4, 1×6] to help the visitors post 174 for four in their 20 overs.
In pursuit of the competitive total, Prabhsimran Singh, who came in as an Impact Substitute, batted patiently as chaos ensued and wickets tumbled around him.
Atharva Taide [4] was the first Kings batsman back in the shed, trapped leg before wicket by Mohammed Siraj before Wanindu Hasaranga bowled Matthew Short for eight.
The home side were left reeling on 27 for three after Liam Livingstone faced just four deliveries for his double, before being trapped in front of his stumps for Siraj’s second.
Harpreet Singh hit 13 from nine deliveries before being run out in the final over of the power play and his side on 43 for four.
Stand-in Kings skipper Sam Curran and Singh then added 33 for the fifth wicket before the Englishman was run out for 10 as the hosts limped to 77 after 10 overs with half the side out.
The writing looked on the wall for the Kings after Prabhsimran, who hit his fourth maximum of the innings, the latest off Wayne Parnell, was back in the hut for 46 as Parnell sent his off-stump cart-wheeling.
Hasaranga took the Kings’ seventh wicket and his second of the clash when he had Shahrukh Khan [6] smartly stumped by Dinesh Karthik shortly after the Kings breached the 100-run mark.
Sharma and Harpreet Brar kept their side in the contest, sharing 41 for the eighth wicket.
Singh was dropped by Virat Kohli off the final ball of Harshal Patel’s over, but Siraj struck twice an over later, cleaning up Brar [13] and Nathan Ellis with the Kings on 149 for nine to end the 18th over as Patel secured the victory by dismissing Sharma [41] to end the match.
Siraj finished with figures 4-21 in his four overs, Hasaranga took 2-39 while Parnell and Patel claimed one wicket a piece.
Earlier, Du Plessis and Kohli got RCB off to a blistering start, racing to 59 for no loss inside the power play.
The former Proteas captain, whose innings started off slowly, was the first to bring up his half-century off 30 balls as he continued his good form with the bat.
Kohli was next to register his 50-run milestone as the pair took the visitors’ total and their partnership past 100.
Lightning struck twice for the Kings as Harpreet Brar claimed two wickets in the 17th over, dismissing both Kohli [59] and the destructive Glenn Maxwell for a first-ball duck off the next delivery.
Du Plessis hit two sixes in consecutive overs to move to 84 and take his side past 150 before he too was out, caught by Curran off Ellis.
With the score on 151 for three, Dinesh Karthik fell for seven to Arshdeep as Mahipal Lomror [7] and Shahbaz Ahmed [5] closed out the innings.
Brar finished with 2-31 from three overs while Arshdeep and Ellis claimed 1-34 and 1-41 respectively from their four-over quotas.
PUNJAB KINGS: Atharva Taide, Harpreet Bhatia, Matthew Short, Liam Livingstone, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shahrukh Khan, Sam Curran (c), Harpreet Brar, Nathan Ellis, Rahul Chahar, Arshdeep Singh
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE : Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli (c), Mahipal Lomror, Glenn Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Suyash Prabhudessai, Wayne Parnell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj.