Kings XI Punjab registered their first victory of the season by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 97 runs in Dubai. RCB came into this match after a victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad, while Kings XI Punjab was still yearning for their first win,
Spinners including the Under-19 sensation Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin took three wickets each and toppled the RCB ‘s batting lineup. Chasing a stiff target of 207 runs, the RCB batsmen gave away their wickets and got all-out on 109 runs.
Earlier in the match, RCB had won the toss and chose to field first as Mayank Agarwal and skipper KL Rahul opened the inning for Punjab. Agarwal scored 26 runs before falling trap of Yuzvendra Chahal after failing to read his googly.
KL Rahul enthused the fans with boundaries at regular intervals. He started dispatching the bowlers for six when he was in his 90s and reached his century by hitting four of the third man.
He scored his second century and also became the fastest Indian player to reach 2000 runs in IPL. Due to his valiant batting, Kings XI Punjab reached a total of 206/3 after 20 overs.
RCB started off the innings on a dreadful note, losing three crucial wickets in the starting three overs. Skipper Virat Kohli promoted the wicket-keeper Joshua Philippe but he disappointed at number 3.
The RCB kept losing wickets due to their lacklustre top-order batting. AB de Villiers and Washington Sundar looked promising, trying to pull off some good shots and bounce back but gave away their wickets to the spinners.
In the end, RCB won the match by 97 runs climbed up the team rankings at number 1. KL Rahul became the man of the match for his seamless knock of 132* off 69 balls. He also became the Orange cap holder for the most number of runs while Mohammad Shami got the purple cap.
