IPL 2020: Match 31, RCB vs KXIP – Match Impact Ratings

Kings XI Punjab’s winning count finally moved to two as they edged past the Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets at the Sharjah Stadium. The Punjab franchise’s first win also came against RCB only but by a huge margin of 97 runs. On yet another slow Sharjah track, the RCB team could only score 171/6 this time around. AB de Villiers couldn’t produce any special in RCB vs KXIP as he did against KKR. In fact, the keeper-batsman came down the order to negotiate the threat of leg-spinners.

The plan didn’t seem to have worked for RCB as they crawled during the middle overs after smashing 57 runs in the powerplay. Virat Kohli, especially, scored only 32 off 31 balls after the powerplay without hitting even one boundary. No International player among RCB’s top six even earned a positive impact rating. However, Chris Morris’ cameo held the best impact in RCB vs KXIP as he got +12.90 for his unbeaten 25 off 8 balls which was scored with help of three maximums and a four.

Morris, in fact, produced the most impactful performance of the match as bowled a tight spell later on. The all-rounder conceded only 22 runs in his four overs and nearly got the wicket of Chris Gayle. He earned an impact rating of 3.98 for his bowling effort and ended the game with an impact of 16.88. The highest impact during RCB vs KXIP for the winning side, Kings XI Punjab was recorded by Murugan Ashwin. The leg-spinner earned an impact of 12.41 for his bowling analyses of 4-0-23-2 to contain the RCB batters.

With the bat, it was Mayank Agarwal’s inning that made the difference between the two teams. The opening batsman struck three maximums and four fours on his way to a 25-ball 45 as Kings XI raced to 78/1 in just eight overs. The Indian Test opener thus got an impact of 12.36 the second-best batting impact during RCB vs KXIP after Morris. The fifties by KL Rahul and Chris Gayle earned pretty less impact as the duo didn’t show enough urgency in the chase and banked on the start given by Mayank.