It was shocking to see Dale Steyn absent in Royal Challengers Bangalore squad during their clash against KXIP yesterday. Steyn, who entered RCB’s squad in IPL 2019 replacing injured Nathan Coulter-Nile, has rebuilt RCB’s bowling attack with great bowling at the start. His arrival has ended the losing streak for RCB and he is expected to be a confirmed overseas player in every RCB’s game in IPL 2019.
Yet he was dropped in yesterday’s game, being replaced by Kiwi pacer Tim Southee. While many fans will be confused why Steyn was not on the ground, the reason behind his absence was revealed by Virat Kohli during the toss. Virat informed that the South African pacer had a shoulder pain due to which he was given rest. “After six losses, we’re just thinking about enjoying our game. And that’s what we’re going to do here too. It’s the other teams that have to worry about the playoffs. Dale Steyn has a shoulder niggle,” Kohli was quoted as saying during the toss.
In spite of Steyn out of the team, RCB’s bowling unit performed well to restrict KXIP to 185/7 in 20 overs. During batting, AB de Villiers hit a spectacular 82 to take RCB to mammoth 202. Punjab started well with a run rate of almost 10 but Umesh Yadav’s 3-wicket haul worked in favour of RCB.
