We are now at a stage of the tenth edition of the Indian Premier League where the losses of other teams are at least as important as one's own wins! Teams in the lower half of the points table are not only trying everything to win their own matches, they are also (probably) praying for other bottom half teams to lose badly! So when the Kings XI Punjab went into their match on the 31st day of IPL2017, they had to win against Royal Challengers Bangalore and win well; with a high enough run rate. So what exactly happened?
The team led by Virat Kohli, the biggest star and darling of Indian cricket was out of the competition even before the match. He has expressed puzzlement and dismay at things just not working out for his team; how such failure is outside his experience. Even before going into the game against KXIP, Kohli admitted that his team of out of the reckoning for proceeding in the competition.
RCB won the toss and put the Punjab team in to bat first. The openers departed early (Hashim Amla scored just 1 run, Martin Guptill scored 9 runs) and it was a fairly low key showing from the visitors. Axar Patel was the highest scorer for this team with his 38 off 17 and ultimately it was a modest total of 138 for Punjab to defend.
Opener Mandeep Singh battled valiantly for his team but his 46 of 40 was in vain. Chris Gayle got out on a duck and Virat Kohli’s 6 off 6 was only a bit better. Apart from Singh, A B de Villiers (10 off 6) and Pawan Negi (21 off 23) were the only other batsmen to reach double figures. RCB ultimately fell short by 19 runs to plummet to yet another defeat.
The award for the Catch of the Match no 43 went to Wriddhiman Saha. Axar Patel bagged the Maximum Sixes award for his 2 sixes while Mandeep Singh was declared the most Stylish Player of the Match.
Sandeep Sharma was declared player of the match for his stellar form with the ball. He took three valuable wickets for his team: Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers.
This win is clearly a relief for team owner Priety Zinta because it keeps her team in competition. However this was the lowest total defended in an IPL match. As a low scoring match; the poor run rate may return to haunt the team at a later date.
With two more exciting games scheduled for today, the playoffs positions are likely to get clearer soon.
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