Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab faced off each other in the 42nd match of IPL 2019 at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday (April 24).

Set into bat first, RCB’s opening pair of Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel put on 35 runs in just 3 overs. Kohli was dismissed by Mohammad Shami for 13. AB de Villiers then joined hands with Parthiv and added 36 runs for the second wicket. Parthiv was dismissed for 43 by Murugan Ashwin. Moeen Ali (4) and Akshdeep Nath (3) were dismissed cheaply. But De Villiers found an able partner in Marcus Stoinis. The pair stitched together an unbeaten 121-run partnership for the fifth wicket. While De Villiers finished with an unbeaten 82 off 44 balls (3 fours and 7 sixes), Stoinis scored 46 not out off 34 deliveries as RCB piled up 202/4 in 20 overs.

In reply, KXIP got off to a flier, courtesy Chris Gayle and KL Rahul hitting flurry of boundaries. The duo added 42 runs for the opening wicket in 3.2 overs before Umesh Yadav got rid of Gayle on 23. Afterwards, Rahul along with Mayank Agarwal forged a 59-run stand. Unfortunately for Punjab, both of them got out in quick succession. While Stoinis dismissed Agarwal (35), Moeen removed Rahul (42) as RCB reduced KXIP to 105/3.

Needing 98 off 59 balls, Nicholas Pooran arrived at the crease to partner David Miller. After taking a few balls to get set, Pooran launched an attack on RCB bowlers. The West Indies wicketkeeper batsman dominated the 68-run partnership between him and Miller by contributing 45.

With 30 needed from the last 2 overs, KXIP lost the plot as Navdeep Saini conceded only 3 runs and dismissed the dangerous duo of Pooran (46 off 28 balls) and Miller (24) in the penultimate over. Umesh Yadav sent R Ashwin (6) and Hardus Viljoen (0) packing in the last over and restricted Kings XI to 185/7, securing a convincing 17-run victory for RCB.

Cricket experts on Twitter were mighty impressed to see RCB’s clinical performance with the bat and ball.

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