NEW DELHI: Punjab Kings registered a five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a rain-curtailed Indian Premier League match on Friday. With this win, PBKS climbed to second place on the points table with 10 points, having won five out of their seven matches so far.
Batting first in the 14-overs-per-side contest — shortened due to evening showers — RCB posted 95 for nine. Tim David led the charge with a counter-attacking 50 off just 26 balls. However, the rest of the RCB batting lineup struggled to get going.
In reply, Punjab chased down the target with ease, reaching 96 in 12.1 overs. Nehal Wadhera played a crucial hand with a brisk 33 off 19 deliveries. Despite a commendable spell from Josh Hazlewood, who finished with figures of 3/14, RCB couldn’t stop the Punjab batters from cruising to victory.
After the match, PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer praised his team’s adaptability and instinctive decision-making under pressure.
“As they say variety is the spice of life. We are able to experience all kinds of games over here. It is a great challenge. There was no thinking to be honest. I was making instinctive moves and obviously we were getting wickets. I didn’t want the new batsman to come in and settle straightaway. Marco was able to extract little bit of bounce on this wicket. He was bowling lethal. He basically steadied the ship. And the rest of the bowlers they helped him. To be honest, we didn’t know how the wicket was going to play and I personally feel the bowlers they adapted according to it,” Iyer said after Punjab Kings win.
Poll
Do you think Punjab Kings will maintain their strong form in upcoming matches?
“When I had a chat with Arshdeep, he said, the hard length balls were very difficult to hit on this wicket because I didn’t see a single six off a fats bowler hit down the ground. That was the chatter going around and they were fantastic in executing it. Yes absolutely, you need one batsman to take the charge. Nehal was brilliant in his approach today. The attitude was top notch. I hope he continues the same form.
“Personally I had a chat with Chahal. I told him you are a match winner and you need to get us wickets as much as possible. You don’t need to be safe in your appraoch and he has got the capability of bouncing back. That’s what we appreciate of him as a leggie. Probably he is the best bowler in the IPL so far. You to back that all the time. Depends on the wicket (On Punjab providing another thriller),” the Punjab Kings skipper said.
Punjab Kings will next take on RCB again in their reverse fixture on Sunday in Mullanpur.
