‘We want to start well at home’ is what Virat Kohli said during the toss.
A belter of a track, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore never disappointed the batters. But it was a certain pacer- Umesh Yadav, who had an impressive outing.
In-form opener KL Rahul teed-off the host’s bowlers to provide a staggering start.
They welcomed Aaron Finch into the side, in place of David Miller. Rahul hit four massive sixes and couple of fours to reach 47 off 30 balls before sending a lolly down to Sarfaraz Khan. Finch failed to open his account and veteran batsman Yuvraj struggled once again to put bat to ball.
It was Umesh Yadav, who added new dynamics to RCB’s bowling. The Indian pacer bagged three wickets in an over and conceded just 23 runs off his four overs.
Kulwant Khejroliya also found success. The quick-bowler scalped the wickets of well-settled Karun Nair and Axar Patel to add misery to the Punjab dug-out.
Punjab’s skipper Ravichandran Ashwin (33 off 21 balls) took matters into his hands and got his side to 155. Washington Sundar picked two wickets and all-rounder Chris Woakes took an equal number of wickets.
Umesh Yadav makes a mark
30-year old Umesh has been in fine form. He finished with 2/27 against Kolkata Knight Riders in the season opener for RCB.
The pacer has matured over the years. Earlier, Umesh said he doesn’t wish to pick a particular format and wants to stay open to everything.
“The thing with ODIs is that there will always be games. I enjoy playing Tests more. Playing both Tests and ODIs is good and particularly for me, because I am at an age when the more cricket I play, the better it is for me,” he said.
“I don’t want to be at a stage where I am saying I don’t want to play this format or that; I want to keep going. I would love to play in all formats,” he added.
The Bangalore franchise finally gets a win under their kitty. Whereas, for Punjab, they will need to put their heads down and do the permutation and combination right.
Here is the newsfeed:
IPL 2018: Match 8, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kings XI Punjab – Twitter Reactions
Watch: Animated Anushka Sharma Cheers Her Husband Virat Kohli From Stands
