Not the night for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) win by 97 runs at Dubai International Stadium. KXIP skipper KL Rahul's score (132*) alone crushed RCB by 23 runs as they overall lost by 97 runs
The Punjab franchise - who had come off a heartbreaking loss to the Delhi Capitals (DC) - saw their skipper smash the RCB bowlers from ball one.
Put in to bat first, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal started good, but the later was sent back by Yuzvendra Chahal for 26.
Rahul continued to smash as his partner kept changing. Nicholas Pooran (17), Glenn Maxwell (5) and Karun Nair (15*) did not contribute much as Rahul single-handedly guided KXIP post 200 runs.
His score of 132* became the highest-ever score by an Indian at the IPL and even the highest ever score by an IPL captain.
For RCB, Dale Steyn turned out to be the most expensive bowler as he gave away 57 runs, followed by Umesh Yadav (35) and Navdeep Saini (37).
While it looked like Kohli and his team could chase the score, it all fell apart after Devdutt Padikkal (1), Josh Philippe (0) and Virat Kohli (1), fell early.
Aaron Finch (20) and AB de Villiers (28) were trying to put on a slow partnership but could not manage as they were also sent back soon.
Washington Sundar was the highest scorer for RCB as he scored 30. However, the rest - Shivam Dube (12), Umesh Yadav (0), Navdeep Saini (6), Dale Steyn (1) and Yuzvendra Chahal (1) kept falling like a pack of cards as KXIP finished the match in 17 overs.
Young spinner Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin took three wickets each to help Rahul's men win the clash. Sheldon Cottrell took two while Mohammed Shami and Glenn Maxwell took one each as RCB were all-out for 109 runs.
The victory will surely boost KXIP moral after they had lost their first clash to DC in the Super Over. The match also saw the controversy over the erroneous one-run short signal by the umpire.
As for Bangalore, they had got off to a winning start, thanks to Devdutt Padikkal and Yuzvendra Chahal who helped notched up a 10-run victory.
