Match Recap

The Royal Challengers Bangalore demolished Kings XI Punjab at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore on Monday night. After opting to bowl, RCB bowled and fielded with plenty of intent and aggression, and dismissed the home side KXIP for 88. The opening pair of Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel then knocked off the required runs in 8.1 overs to lead RCB to a huge 10-wicket win.

Put in to bat, KXIP were cautious, to begin with, scoring only one run from the first eleven balls of the match. But a slight error in length from Tim Southee was enough for KL Rahul to break the shackles; the right-hander sent the ball on its way into the stands at square-leg. Chris Gayle dropped on 0, collected three boundaries in the fourth over bowled by Southee.

Early in the fifth over, Rahul hit Umesh Yadav for a six. It is at this stage that the wheels came off the KXIP innings. Yadav dismissed both the openers in the same over and in the following over Karun Nair – sent out to bat at number three – guided one to the lone fielder at slip.

Marcus Stoinis, sent out to bat at number five, yorked himself against YuzvendraChahal, Mayank Agarwal (batting at six) was strangled down the leg-side, and manic running resulted in three lower-order batsmen being run out. Only three KXIP batsmen got into double-digits: Rahul (21), Gayle (18) and Aaron Finch (26). KXIP, 36-0 at one stage, had lost all ten wickets for the addition of 52 runs to be bowled out for 88 in 15.1 over.

RCB’s chase was a matter of formality. Sensing an opportunity for his team to enhance their net run rate, the RCB captain Virat Kohli walked out to open the innings in the company of Parthiv Patel. The latter set the early pace, racing to 16 from 6 balls before Kohli caught up and even went ahead of his opening partner. Kohli, who struck the winning hit, finished unbeaten on 48 (28 balls), and Parthiv was 40 not out from 22 balls. The unbeaten 92-run opening partnership would be RCB’s best opening stand of the season.

As a result of this convincing win, RCB received a fillip to their net run rate; prior to the match, their NRR was -0.261. After the 10-wicket win, their NRR jumped to 0.22. At the other end, KXIP’s net run rate (-0.06 before the match) suffered a massive blow and dropped further to -0.52.

Standout bowling performance

While the wickets were shared between 5 of the 6 bowlers RCB used, the stand out performer was Umesh Yadav. The 30-year old bowled an outstanding first over, conceding only one run; he got the ball to move just that little bit and gave the KXIP openers very little to score off. He should have had the wicket of Chris Gayle fifth ball, but Parthiv Patel grassed a difficult chance behind the stumps. Umesh continued to hit that awkward length and cramped the batsmen for a room in the second over too; the one ball he missed his mark was hit into the stands. The following delivery, he should have had the wicket of Rahul, but AB de Villiers grassed a difficult opportunity at mid-on.

Umesh came back for a third consecutive over and turned the match on its head, dismissing the two batsmen who were KXIP’s pillars. Rahul was surprised by one that skidded off the pitch and his pull shot found Colin de Grandhomme at square-leg, and three balls later Gayle too fell into the short-ball trap.

Umesh came on to bowl his fourth in the fourteenth over and claimed his third scalp with the short delivery – this time Andrew Tye attempting a pull but only managing a feather to the wicket-keeper. The RCB pacer finished with figures of 4-0-23-3; his spell contained 16 dot deliveries.

Stat of the Match

Umesh Yadav finished with identical returns of 3-23 in both VIVO IPL 2018 matches against Kings XI Punjab.

Kings XI Punjab only scored 40 runs in the middle nine overs – the lowest any team has managed in the period in VIVO IPL 2018.

There were 3 run outs in the Kings XI Punjab innings – the most in an innings in VIVO IPL 2018.

Brief Scores:

Kings XI Punjab 88 in 15.1 overs (Aaron Finch 26, Umesh Yadav 3-23) lost to

Royal Challengers Bangalore 92-0 in 8.1 overs (Virat Kohli 48*, Parthiv Patel 40*) by 10 wickets.

Man of the Match:

Umesh Yadav, for his spell of 3-23.