RCB vs PBKS highlights: Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), on Monday (March 25), beat Punjab Kings (PBKS) by four wickets to open their account in IPL 2024. Chasing 177, the Bengaluru-based outfit crossed the finishing line with four balls remaining.
RCB’s chase was off to a terrible start as they lost the wickets of their captain Faf du Plessis and Cameron Green inside the powerplay. Kagiso Rabada dismissed both of them to leave RCB reeling at 43 for 2. PBKS could have dismissed Virat Kohli in the first over as well but Jonny Bairstow could not hold on to an easy catch at first slip.
Kohli and Rajat Patidar added 43 runs for the third wicket before the latter was bowled by Harpreet Brar for 18. Brar struck again to dismiss Glenn Maxwell for three and reduced RCB to 103 for 4. At the other end, Kohli completed his fifty and kept his team in the chase.
However, he could not finish the game for his side. On the final ball of the 16th over, he hit a Harshal Patel delivery straight to the fielder at deep backward point to leave his side reeling at 130 for 5. The former RCB skipper departed after scoring 77 off 49 balls. Two balls later, Sam Curran dismissed Anuj Rawat as well to put PBKS in the driver’s seat.
However, Dinesh Karthik and Mahipal Lomror came up with a brilliant cameos to power their side to a thrilling win. While Karthik smashed an unbeaten 28 off just 10 balls, Lomror remained unbeaten on 17 off 8. With 23 runs needed from the last two overs, Karthik hit Harshal Patel for a six and four in the 19th over to bring down the equation to 10 from 6 balls.
In the final over, Karthik hit the first ball for a six before Arshdeep Singh bowled a wide. On the second ball, the right-handed batsman hit a four to seal a win for his side.
RCB vs PBKS: PBKS innings
Earlier in the game, PBKS posted a competitive total of 176 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs after being asked to bat first. Jonny Bairstow hit a couple of fours to get going but did not last long and was dismissed for 8 by Mohammed Siraj.
Shikhar Dhawan and Prabhsimran Singh steadied the ship with a 55-run stand before the latter was dismissed Glenn Maxwell for 25. Dhawan and Liam Livingstone then added 26 runs for the third wicket before being dismissed on successive deliveries. Alzarri Joseph broke the stand by dismissing Livingstone for 17 on the final ball of the 12th over.
On the very next delivery, Maxwell dismissed Dhawan for 45 to leave PBKS reeling at 98 for 4 in the 13th over. With two new batsmen at the crease and less than seven overs remaining, RCB were well on top. However, Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma did not let the home side capitalise on the twin breakthroughs. The duo added 52 runs for the fifth wicket but departed in quick succession at crucial junctures.
Curran was the first to go. Yash Dayal dismissed him for 23 runs in the 18th over. In the 19th over, Mohammed Siraj conceded just 4 runs and dismissed Jitesh as well. The 170-run mark was looking tough for the visitors but a fine cameo of 21 runs from Shashank Singh helped them post 176. He hit Joseph for two sixes and a four in the final over to help his side finish strongly.
RCB vs PBKS scorecard:
