Bowling has often been perceived as the chink in Royal Challengers Bangalore armour. But on Thursday, the bowlers launched RCB to a 24-run win over Punjab Kings at the PCA Stadium, bringing the team back on track. For now, that is.
Once Royal Challengers posted 174 for 4 on a slightly tacky pitch, the general feeling that the total was a tad under par. But the RCB bowlers, led by Mohammed Siraj, brought out their ‘A’ game to keep PBKS batters under pressure to eke out a victory.
Kohli returns to lead RCB
It was also a sweet return for Virat Kohli to RCB’s captaincy as he stood in for injured regular skipper Faf du Plessis who was replaced with Impact Player Vysakh Vijaykumar during PBKS innings.
Siraj had a woeful IPL 2022 but a year later he looks a completely changed bowler. He relishes bowling in the Power Plays now, and hardly gives away runs in a tough phase for a bowler. The Mohali evening was no exception.
Siraj floors Punjab
Siraj blunted the Punjab chase early, dismissing opener Atharva Taide and the big-hitting Liam Livingstone. At 27 for 3, the PBKS were always looking to travel up the hill. The pacer then returned at the death to claim two more wickets of Nathan Ellis and Harpreet Brar to wreck Punjab’s dream of a dramatic win.
Siraj returned with figures of 4 for 21 from four overs in an impressive outing in which he combined pace and accuracy to telling effect.
Punjab miss Shikhar Dhawan
Punjab missed the presence of their captain Shikhar Dhawan, who was carrying a niggle, even though Prabhsimran Singh (46) and Jitesh Sharma (41) tried gamely to take their team past the tape.
However, the foundation of RCB's triumph was built on the 137-run opening alliance between Kohli and Faf which came in 16.1 overs. Kohli was not in full control of his innings while making 59 off 47 balls and had to engineer shots to get the board moving. But he provided solid support to his partner.
But on the other side, Faf did not face such issues as the South African batter brought out his power game 84 off 56 balls with 5 fours and as many sixes.
At one stage, RCB looked good to cross the 200-run mark but the dismissals of Kohli, Faf and the slowness of the trampoline meant that they ended up at 174. But bowlers ensured that it was enough for RCB on this day.
