Bangalore 175-6 (De Villiers 64, Baby 33; Cariappa 2-16, Sandeep 2-49)
Punjab 174-4 (Vijay 89; Watson 2-22, Chahal 2-30)
Bangalore win by 1 run.
Tactical errors from Kings XI Punjab and an all-round showing from Royal Challengers Bangalore saw the latter win their bottom-table Indian Premier League scrap by a one run.
Punjab did decently well to restrict the batting-heavy Bangalore side to 175 for six with AB de Villiers top-scoring with 64 runs after winning the toss and opting to chase as has been the trend this year.
The PCA Stadium in Mohali, however, has been a ground with the second-most number of runs scored after Bangalore’s venue of MA Chinnaswamy Stadium, and Bangalore were quick to get on with the bat.
Punjab captain Murali Vijay curiously made two changes bringing in all-rounder Farhaan Behardien and medium-pacer Anureet Singh for Glenn Maxwell and Gurkeerat Singh.
However, Vijay did not give Behardien the opportunity to bowl his medium-pacers, while retaining David Miller, who has been out of form.
Bangalore got off to another good start with the bat with captain Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul putting together 63 runs for the first wicket.
But the fall of three wickets in quick succession pegged them back as Rahul (42) and Kohli (20) being dismissed in the same KC Cariappa over.
But after Shane Watson was bowled for just one by Axar Patel, De Villiers and Sachin Baby (33 off 29 balls) put on a partnership of 88 from 55 balls to ensure Bangalore set an imposing target.
Leg-spinner Cariappa (2-16) and Anureet (0-15) were Punjab’s best bowlers, yet they ended up bowling just three overs each.
Questions may be asked of Vijay’s decisions on the field, but he made a positive start with the bat with South African opener Hashim Amla, with both players – known for their exploits in the the Test format – knitting together a 45-run stand in just 5.3 overs.
After Amla fell, Wriddhiman Saha scored 16 before he stepped out to play an expansive shot only to be stumped by Rahul off the bowling of leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Miller, who was the original leader of the side before he handed over the role to Vijay, perished the next ball, again being stumped by the Bangalore wicketkeeper.
This prompted Vijay to take it upon himself to shift gears, which he did as he hit a six and 12 boundaries before eventually being caught by Chahal off Watson’s bowling.
Punjab still had a possible 24 runs to get from 12 balls, but they fell short by just one run at the end despite a last-ditch effort from Marcus Stoinis (34 not out).
Vijay was left to ponder his decisions as captain.
“We were in the game till the last over,” Vijay said. “The bowlers did well to keep them to 170 after AB de Villiers’s innings.
“I didn’t want to change the fields too much, because anyway he was going to play with the fields, so I told them to stick to their plans.”
The India opener also paid tribute to the Australian Stoinis for his cameo towards the end.
“I told Stoinis, there was no bounce on the wicket, so just play cricketing shots and stay till the end. Anything can happen,” Vijay added.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
