Punjab Kings (PBKS) opened their IPL 2022 campaign in an impressive fashion as they registered a comfortable five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday (March 27).
Asked to bat first, RCB piled up a massive 205/2 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of new skipper Faf du Plessis’ 57-ball 88 and vital contributions from Virat Kohli (41* off 29 balls) and Dinesh Karthik (32* off 14 balls).
Rahul Chahar (1-22) and Arshdeep Singh (1-31) returned with impressive figures even as RCB batters took the PBKS attack to the cleaners.
In reply, Punjab got off to a terrific start as the duo of captain Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan added 71 runs for the opening wicket. Wanindu Hasaranga drew the first blood for RCB by removing Mayank on 32.
Afterwards, Dhawan put on 47 runs for the second wicket with Bhanuka Rajapaksa. However, PBKS lost both of them in quick succession for 43 each. Liam Livingstone looked dangerous for a brief period before getting out for 10-ball 19 while Raj Bawa bagged a first-ball duck as Punjab found themselves struggling at 156/5.
Amid the pressure situation, PBKS’ new recruit Odean Smith produced the magic, slamming 25 not out off 8 balls (1 four and 3 sixes) to take his team over the line with an over to spare. Shahrukh Khan too played his part in the successful run chase, hitting 24* off 20 balls.
For their clinical chase, Punjab batters received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.
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