IPL 2018: Match 48, KXIP vs RCB- Who Said What

The match between the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) and the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) was important from both team’s viewpoint as they needed a victory to get their campaign in place. The game turned out to be a one-sided encounter as RCB decimated the hosts by ten wickets to stay afloat in the tournament. Virat Kohli’s men were clinical in all departments which helped them carve the triumph.

Punjab capitulate

Virat won the toss and elected to field first. Chris Gayle and KL Rahul opened the batting for the Kings and started in their usual aggressive manner. Rahul cleared the boundary three times and threatened to pile another massive score. Gayle took his time but hit four boundaries in quick succession to set the ball rolling. However, Umesh Yadav nipped both batsmen out in the same over to jolt KXIP once and for all.

Thereafter it was a procession of wickets. The pressure mounted on the home team which was evident from the fact that three batsmen succumbed to run-outs. Aaron Finch scored 26 runs and tried to get the innings back on track, but Moeen Ali got rid of him after which they lost five wickets for ten runs and stumbled to 88 runs and were bowled out with 29 balls remaining.

Parthiv and Virat seals the deal

The target wasn’t a daunting one by any stretch of the imagination. Parthiv Patel trod an aggressive route from the outset wasted no time in hitting his straps. Ravichandran Ashwin opened the bowling in a bid to get some early breakthroughs for his team but conceded nine runs. Ankit Rajpoot bowled the second over and leaked 16 runs as Virat Kohli smacked him for a couple of boundaries and a six.

Thereafter it was a one-way traffic in favour of the visitors. Punjab strained to break the partnership, but couldn’t do much. Both batsmen teed off and achieved the target with approximately twelve overs to spare. With the resounding victory, RCB’s net run-rate soared up and Punjab’s net run-rate took a massive hit. Both have one match remaining in the league now.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the skipper of the Kings XI Punjab, said

Really disappointing. Wasn’t a professional effort from us. That has been the story for us. It’s been the bowlers who have done it right and got the points for us. The batsmen have struggled more often than not. Anyways we need to chin up and move forward.

Need to try and make sure to lift ourselves. It was very simple. We have never got to 20 overs with 3 down or 4 down so far in the tournament. That’s what we wanted to achieve but the wheels came off at the right time for us. We lost by a big margin and our net run rate has come down.

We need to go to Mumbai and try to put them to bed, then we go to Pune to play Chennai. Most of these guys have played for a long time now, need their experience to count. We have a reasonable bowling attack that has fired for us. Time for the internationals to step up.

Virat Kohli, the skipper of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, said

The last one week has been really crazy for us. At one stage, we thought we were down and out. But the way other games went, the points table opened up suddenly. Now we just got to win our two games left, run rate is quite good. Couldn’t have asked for a more clinical performance.

No negatives to point out today. Perfect game for us. Kings XI thought that we would be intimidated by their openers on this small field but the way our bowlers started and took the batsmen out, they knew that they couldn’t make any mistakes. Umesh was brilliant, taking those two big wickets in the same over. We kept picking wickets throughout and that was crucial.

Very important because that’s been the trend at this ground and we knew that they will try extra with their mystery spinner not playing. We knew we could bank on that factor. They were trying to get 30 extra due to that. The big shot kept coming and we kept taking wickets.

Umesh Yadav, the Player of the Match said,

I am bowling whatever I was thinking and it has been going well till now. Hoping to carry this form forward. I was backing myself to bowl whatever I have, pace with good line and length to cramp the batsman. I feel that if I don’t do that, I’m lacking in confidence.

We just keep discussing how to use the new ball well because if we can take early wickets, it will ease the pressure off the other bowlers. We also chat a lot about the death overs.

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