IPL 2020: Match 31 – KXIP vs RCB – Who Said What

The 31st match of the India Premier League took place between Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Universe Boss Chris Gayle came up to bring all the luck for struggling KXIP as they won the contest by eight wickets. Batting first, RCB posted a respectable 171 on the board where Virat Kohli (48 off 39) and Chris Morris (25* off 8) remained the highest run-getters from the RCB team.

KL Rahul was named as the player of the match for his knock that led his team home. Knocks by Aaron Finch (20 off 18) and Shivam Dube (23 off 19) pushed RCB to keep moving towards a decent score. Murugan Ashwin turned phenomenal with the ball as he conceded just 23 runs in his spell to pick two wickets.

It was KXIP’s day finally

Hunting the target in Sharjah, KXIP batters came up with intentions to get those two points anyhow in their bag. The exceptional openers KL Rahul (61* off 49) and Mayank Agarwal (45 off 25) set the tone perfectly during the chase. Chris Gayle walked the field like a King and smashed 53 runs 0ff 45 balls. Navdeep Saini showed the best form with the ball as he maintained the economy of 5.20 in the match.

Losing skipper, Virat Kohli said

It was quite surprising, because it went down to the wire. A bit of pressure can confuse you, it was a good performance by Kings XI in the end. We had a chat, it was a message about the left-hand, right-hand combination (on AB coming down the order). Sometimes these decisions you take, don’t come off. But I think 170 was a decent score. That’s the idea, get your eye in and start hitting. But we were not able to put them under pressure. We take a lot of pride as a bowling side, but tonight was one of those nights, as it didn’t come off. A few positives from the game. There was no conversation between Yuzi (Chahal) and me to be honest. Things became interesting to be honest. They kind of let us come back in the game, because I think it should have ended by the 18th over.

Winning skipper and player of the match KL Rahul said

I have no idea, it’s (heart beat) the highest it can be. I don’t even have words. We knew we had to scrape and get over the line. We are a far better side than where we are in the points table. It just got too close for comfort, happy that we crossed the line. As a group, we have been disappointing. It can get frustrating. Our skills were good, but we didn’t capitalize on the big moments. It becomes a habit – winning and not winning.

There are ups and downs and this has been the roller-coaster. We wanted this win to get some confidence in the group. It’s my first time as captain, for me it’s always about winning. The personal performances haven’t been on mind too much. He’s (Gayle) not been feeling well in the last couple of weeks. But, he is hungry even at 41. He always wanted to play from the first day. He was training hard, he wanted be out on the park. It was a tough call to make and not make him play. It’s important to keep the lion hungry. Wherever he bats, he’s dangerous. He’s taken it up as a challenge as well. He’ll still be intimidating.