Kings XI Punjab are on a roll, this time, crushing RCB on their way of becoming the most-feared side this edition of the IPL. Punjab beat RCB by 32 runs on Friday.
In reply to the tricky total set by KXIP, RCB began their quest to chase down the total with Chris Gayle and Parthiv Patel. Two slow overs and KXIP shoved RCB under a leash with the 3rd over bowled by Sandeep. Two big blows for RCB came in the form of Gayle 4(7) and  Kohli 0(1). RCB: 9/2 in 3 overs. Parthiv and Sachin Rana had the responsibility to take the chase forward and just like RCB began to settle down a bit, came the 7th over that claimed two wickets again: Parthiv 13(14) and Sachin Rana 18(16). RCB’s score was looking dangerously bad: 39/2 in 7 overs.
This double strike brought together de Villers and Yuvraj and for the few fans who still had hope, there were spoilers ahead as Yuvraj too departed in the 10th over for 3, taken by Shivam. Morkel was the next man to walk back, dismissed in the 12th over by Balaji for 16. It was all upon de Villiers and Starc to rescue the team and they did fairly well, taking the score to 109/6 in 14 overs. But then, Balaji got yet another crucial breakthrough, dismissing de Villiers for 53 in the 16th over. The next man to fall was Harshal, done in by Johnson in the next over for 6. The last over saw the wicket of Starc (29) tumble to some fine bowling by Balaji. RCB was bundled for 166/9 in 20 overs.
Earlier, RCB won the toss and elected to field first. KXIP had a number of changes in their side. Balaji was back into the side and and Shivam Sharma was all set for his first game. Sehwag and Mandeep opened the innings for KXIP and the partnership lasted for 5 overs yielding 45 runs. The first wicket fell in the 6th over when Mandeep perished to a smart Harshal delivery, that had him for 21. Sehwag fell in the next over to Chahal for 30, bringing in two new batsmen: the dangerous duo of Maxwell and Miller.
Chahal helped RCB heave a big sigh of relief in the 9th over when he trapped the explosive Maxwell for 25, who had done enough damage for one over. The next man in was Bailey, who departed in the 12th over for 1, done in by Morkel. The score was now 116/4. Miller and Saha teamed up to take the score to 166/4 in 16 overs, but soon after, Miller fell post getting to his half century, for 66, done in by Aaron in the 17th over. Saha fell in the next over for 17, dismissed by Harshal and soon enough, there were another two blows: Akshar Patel 2(3) and Shivam 4(2) in the 20th over, both taken by Starc. KXIP’s final score was 198/8.
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