Royal Challengers Bangalore imploded in their most crucial match of the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs after choking in a low-scoring chase. Their defeat in Hyderabad allowed Chennai Super Kings to hang on to fourth spot at the end of the league stage.

Deccan Chargers scratched to 132 on a slow pitch, but their bowlers and fielders lifted the gloom of their campaign with a performance that brought the tournament’s most intimidating batting line-up to its knees. Chargers, who spent most of the season languishing at the bottom, left Pune Warriors holding the wooden spoon and moved to eighth spot.

The game was Royal Challengers’ to lose. A target of 133 should not have been too daunting for their top heavy batting line-up. The chase had several turning points – Chris Gayle’s dismissal, Dale Steyn’s first three overs and Virat Kohli’s rush of blood, to name a few. Steyn was unplayable with figures of 4-0-8-3, but crucially, he found support from the slower bowlers. Amit Mishra took two in an over to set Royal Challengers back and Ashish Reddy frustrated the batsmen with slower balls in the final stages.

Gayle has largely determined Royal Challengers’ fortunes this season, by combining big hits with longevity at the crease. He has, on occasion, started sedately before embarking on a boundary barrage. Today Gayle batted as though he was determined to finish in ten overs, pounding 24 in Manpreet Gony’s first over, the second of the innings.

In the third, Gayle had to face Steyn, bowling at serious pace. After ducking under a short ball aimed at his head, Gayle tried to make room by moving towards leg and bottom edged another fast short ball on to his stumps. Steyn then had Tillakaratne Dilshan lbw in his next over, and Royal Challengers were 40 for 2 when Saurabh Tiwary retired hurt after straining a hamstring in the sixth.

An overthrow that cost six runs was the only major blip on an unusually good day in the field for Chargers. Duminy’s leaping catch at short cover to get rid of AB de Villiers was an example of their improvement. The tension was palpable in the Royal Challengers camp as de Villiers walked back, because their tail began at No.7.

Tiwary returned in the tenth over after Mishra’s double-strike. He and Kohli kept Royal Challengers in the hunt during their brisk stand of 46, which came at 7.45 runs an over. The plan seemed to be to knock off as many as possible before Steyn returned for his final over. Kohli swung Ashish Reddy over long-on but a repeat of that shot the following ball found the fielder. A furious Kohli swung his bat at thin air in frustration.

Steyn returned to knock down Zaheer Khan’s middle stump to round off another dream spell. The game was all but sealed for Chargers as the asking rate proved too demanding for Royal Challengers’ tail. Kohli sat at the dug out with his pads on, hands on his face, wondering what could have been.

Besides Steyn, Chargers had another South African to thank – JP Duminy. The two-paced pitch produced attritional cricket and Chargers struggled to score at six an over. Duminy did his best to compensate for the failures of his other overseas colleagues with a late surge, pounding five sixes in an aggressive half-century.

Only two boundaries were scored in the Powerplay overs, which produced just 23 runs. By the end of the tenth over, the score was an underwhelming 47 for 3. Duminy, who began watchfully, hit the first of his five sixes when he heaved R Vinay Kumar over long-on in the 16th over. He hit three more in a single over from Muttiah Muralitharan, which cost 20. His knock was valuable in getting Chargers to a middling total on a slow pitch. It turned out to be enough.

Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Disciplined show by bowlers after brilliant execution by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli helped Royal Challengers Bangalore thrash Delhi Daredevils at their home ground Ferozeshah Kotla by 21 runs on Thursday.

Chasing the highest target of the tournament, Daredevils fought hard with Ross Taylor and Venugopal Rao but managed to score just 194/9, conceding a comprehensive victory to the visitors.

Zaheer Khan finished with 3/38 while Vinay Kumar ended up with decent figure of 2/35.

After Bangalore posted 215/1, Delhi lost both openers David Warner and Unmukt Chand early.

Zaheer Khan struck in the second over to dismiss Warner, while Vinay Kumar ended Unmukt Chand’s challenge in the fifth over to reduce Delhi to 45/2.

Prasanth Parameswaran sent back Mahela Jayawardene to give Delhi Daredevils third blow at the score of 69 in the ninth over.

Delhi Daredevils lost Venugopal Rao (36) after crossing 100-run mark, giving Royal Challengers Bangalore fourth success.

Rao shared 38-run stand with Ross Taylor before being caught by Harshal Patel off Muttiah Muralitharan with scorecard reading 107 after 11 overs.

Vinay Kumar dismissed dangerous Ross Taylor (55) just after Zaheer Khan sent back Naman Ojha raising Royal Challengers Bangalore hope for victory.

Zaheer Khan dismissed Ojha just after Delhi crossed 150-mark. Khan got Ojha caught by Saurabh Tiwary to reduce Delhi to 151/5.

Capitalizing on the breakthrough, Vinay Kumar got Taylor caught by Mayan Agarwal to rattle the hosts with scorecard reading 159 in seventeenth over.

Chris Gayle smashed a rollicking unbeaten 128, his first century of the season, to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to a mammoth 215.

Gayle took some time to settle after being invited to bat by Mahela Jayawardene, who led Delhi in place of an indisposed Virender Sehwag, and then hit hapless Delhi bowlers at will all around the Feroze Shah Kotla ground.

Initially, he took 17 balls for his first 10 runs and then scored the next 90 in just 35 balls as he hit 13 sixes and seven fours in his whirlwind 62-ball unbeaten knock.

Together with his skipper Virat Kohli (73 not out), he rattled up a 204-run stand, highest for any wicket in the league this season. Kohli too looked in much better touch today as he scored freely and never looked uncomfortable.

The youngster faced 53 balls and hit 10 boundaries, including one six.

There was no escape from the Gayle ‘storm’ and Delhi sorely missed Morne Morkel, who was rested today as the hosts have already secured a berth in the play-offs.

Jayawardene did everything to stop a marauding Gayle but the West Indian was unstoppable as neither the spinners nor the pacers had an answer to the power-hitting of the left-hander.

At the start, Delhi pacers did a good job with Umesh Yadav bowling a fiery maiden over to Gayle and Varun Aaron dismissing Tillakaratne Dilshan (10) with his second ball.

Dilshan looked in good touch as he had driven Irfan Pathan for two exquisite straight drives in the opening over but a leading edge that flew to Pathan at mid-on brought about his end.

Kohli hit four elegant boundaries, two each off Yadav and Aaron immediately after arriving at the crease.

Delhi though did extremely well to contain Gayle till then. The explosive Caribbean faced 17 balls till the power-play and scored only 10 runs.

Gayle’s first six came off fellow Jamaican Andre Russell, who played in place of rested Morne Morkel, in the eighth over and second off Y Venugopal Rao in the 10th over as RCB reached 79 for one at half-way mark.

The stage was set for a big score and soon Gayle was his usual attacking self. He hit left-arm spinner Pawan Negi for a 106-meter long six and then completed his fifty with a long-off boundary off Russell.

All hell broke loose after that as Gayle hit Pathan and Negi for three sixes each and RCB went on to score 78 runs in the last five overs.

Source: Times of India

Ambati Rayudu and Kieron Pollard made a wonderful partnership of 118 runs and guided Mumbao Indians to victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore. Today Royal Challengers Bangalore were in green outfit. In the chase of 172 runs for victory, Mumbai Indians lost first 3 wickets in no time. They were at a score of 19 for loss of 3 wickets. Soon, they even lost the next two wickets and were at a score of 51 for a loss of 5 wickets.

At this stage, Mumbai Indians were in trouble. But, Ambati Rayudu, and Kieron Pollard show an excellent performance and chased down the required score easily. Amabti Rayudu made outstanding 81 runs without being out in 54 balls with 6 boundaries, and 4 sixers. And Pollard was also not out and made 52 runs in 31 balls with 5 boundaries, and 3 sixes.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their crucial wickets of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli in the 3rd over itself and were at a score of 11 runs for loss of 2 wickets. After them, Saurabh Tiwary made a poor start, and was unfortunately got hit-wicket for an individual score of 21 runs.

After him AB de Villiers with a score of 14 runs with Dilshan took the score to 87 for a loss of 4 wickets. After the loss of de Villiers wicket, apart from the opener Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Mayank Agarwal could not score well. Mayank Agarwal made 64 runs in 30 balls with 6 boundaries and 4 sixes, and Dilshan made 47runs in 50 balls with 4 boundaries, and a sixer. On the whole, they made a score of 171 in 20 overs.

Squads

Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh, Herschelle Gibbs, Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, c Harshal Patel, Ambati Rayudu, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Lasith Malinga, RP Singh, Munaf Patel.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Mayank Agarwal, Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Kotarangada Appanna, Harshal Patel, Muttiah Muralidaran.

Royal Challengers Bangalore had a easy win over Pune Warriors India and crawled up to 3rd position in the points table. Earlier Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan partnership lead the RCB score shoot-up to 173, and during PWI innings bowlers showed good performance. Both of them helped RCB to have an easy win of 35runs.

Pune Warriors India was unsuccessful in chasing down the target score of 174. They lost the first two wickets of Mishra and Pandey in the first over itself. After them, soon in the 4th over, they even lost the wicket of Micheal Clarke. Then, Robin Uthappa and Anustup Majumdar had a 50runs partnership. But, even this partnership couldn’t hold long.

After losing the wicket of Uthappa, PWI lost next 5 wickets within no time. It was only the skipper Steven Smith who made a double digit score. The RCB bowlers showed good performance. All the bowlers took wickets. Of them Vinay Kumar took 3 wickets for 32 runs, Zaheer Khan took 2 wickets for 21 runs, and Muralitharan took 2 wickets for 16 runs.

Earlier, during the Royal Challengers Bangalore innings, the openers Chris Gayle, and Dilshan had a very good partnership of 80 runs. At a individual score of 57runs in 31 balls with 3 boundaries, and 6 wonderful sixes, Gayle was caught in Mathews bowling.

After losing the wicket of Gayle, skipper Virat Kohli was also out soon. After him, Dilshan made a 43 runs partnership with Saurabh Tiwary. Dilshan was not out after making 53 runs in 44 balls, with 6 boundaries and a six. Saurabh Tiwary made 36 runs of 30 balls, and AB de Villiers made 9 of 4balls and took the score to 173 in 20 overs.

Squads:

Pune Warriors India: Steven Smith, Alfonso Thomas, Angelo Mathews, Anustup Majumdar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krishnakant Upadhyay, Manish Pandey, Michael Clarke, Mohnish Mishra, Rahul Sharma, Robin Uthappa.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Harshal Patel, KP Appanna, Mayank Agarwal, Muttiah Muralitharan, R Vinay Kumar, Saurabh Tiwary, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Zaheer Khan.

Royal Challengers Bangalore have an easy win over Mumbai Indians. Chris Gayle once again showed his outstanding batting performance and helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to chase down the score of 142.

Wankhede stadium, Mumbai possesses one of the tough pitches to bat. And on it, the opponent team for RCB is Mumbai Indians, which have very good bowlers like Malinga, Harbhajan Singh, etc. But, in spite of all these things, Chris Gayle showed his excellent performance with bat. He stood notout for 82 runs in 59 balls with 5 boundaries and 6 sixes. Dilshan made 19runs, and Viral Kohli made 36runs in 25 balls with a boundary and 2 sixers.

Earlier, during the Mumbai Indians innings, they lost 2 early wickets of James Franklin, and Rohit Sharma, and were at a score of 2 runs for 2 wickets. After these 2 wickets, Sachin and Dinesh Kartik build some good partnership and took the score to 41. At the score of 41, MIs lost the wicket of Sachin.

But, Kartik continued his partnership with Ambati Rayudu and took the score to 85, when Rayudu was caught in Patel’s bowling. Soon, Karthik also got out in Muralitharan’s bowling. After them Kieron Pollard, and the skipper Harbhajan Singh few boundaries, and sixers and made a partnership of 41runs. Overall, they could make a score 141runs with a loss of 6 wickets. The spin magician Muralitharan took 2 crucial wickets of Dinesh Karthik, and Dwayne Smith.

Squads:

Mumbai Indians: Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Sachin Tendulkar, James Franklin, Kieron Pollard, Dwayne Smith, Dinesh Karthik, Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Mayank Agarwal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Zaheer Khan, Muttiah Muralitharan, Harshal Patel, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad, Saurabh Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar.

AB de Villiers outstanding batting performance in the 18th and 19th over helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to have an easy win over Deccan Chargers. Yet, another loss for Deccan Chargers. Once again, Deccan Chargers made a huge score of 181, but, couldn’t stop the opponent team in chasing. Once again, they lost another winning match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore openers Tillakaratne Dilshan, and Chris Gayle gave a good start to the match by scoring 91 runs in their partnership. After the loss of Chris Gayle wicket, RCB lost next 4 wickets soon. But, AB de Villiers showed an outstanding batting performance and helped RCB to chase the score of 182. He scored 47 runs out 17 balls with 5 boundaries, and 3 sixers. And scored 23 runs in the 18th over itself.

Earlier during the Deccan Chargers innings, the top order batsmen Daniel Harris, Shikhar Dhawan, and Cameron White showed an excellent batting performance and took the score to 181 by just losing 2 wickets. Shikhar Dhawan was not out and scored 73 runs in 52 balls with 10 boundaries, and a six.

Daniel Harris Scored 47 runs out of 42 balls with 2 boundaries and 4 sixes. Cameron White scored 45 out 24 balls with 2 boundaries, and 3 sixes. Even skipper showed some good batting by making 10runs out of 3 balls with a boundary and a six. Altogether, they made a huge score of 181 runs.

Teams

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara, Parthiv Patel, Shikhar Dhawan, Cameron White, Ashish Reddy, Amit Mishra, Daniel Harris, PA Reddy, Dale Steyn, Anand Rajan, Veer Pratap Singh.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Zaheer Khan, Abhimanyu Mithun, Muttiah Muralitharan, Asad Pathan, Jamaluddin Syed Mohammad, P Parameswaran

Kings XI Punjab have a win over Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets nerve breaking thriller match and moved up into the top 4 teams. They were almost at the tip of the victory, when they lost unnecessary wickets in a hurry to capture the victory, and were almost losing end, when Piyush Chawla hit a sixer and gave a break to this nerve breaking thriller match.

The top order batsmen of Kings XI Punjab made good scores and helped them to capture an easy win. They lost an early wicket of Shaun Marsh at just a score of 38runs. Mandeep Singh made a good score of 43runs in 30balls with 6 fours and 1 sixer. After Mandeep’s wicket, Nitin Saini, and David Hussey had a good partnership and took the score t0 141.

Nitin Saini, who made half-century was caught, while he was trying to hit sixer in a hurry to capture the victory soon. However, David Hussey tried to stay till the end, but got run out. They lost 4 wickets, which even includes Hussey’s within no time. 3 out of these 4wickets were unwanted run-outs. In the last 4 overs, RCB well restricted KXIP, but Piyush Chawla hit a sixer and ended the thriller match when the need was 2 runs out of 2 balls.

Earlier, in the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s innings, they lost their first wicket soon in the second over itself. The next two batsmen Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had a good partnership of 119runs. Chris Gayle made a outrageous score of 71 in 42 balls with 6 boundaries and 4 sixes. He was caught in Azhar Mahmmod’s balling. Soon, they even last the wicket of Kohli in Piyush Chawla’s bowling.

After them RCB batsmen were out one after another and could only add 21runs. Kings XI Punjab’s Azhar Mahmood was good with the ball today. He took the crucial three wickets, which included the wickets of Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, and Andrew McDonald.

Teams

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori, Chris Gayle, Andrew McDonald, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Mayank Agarwal, R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Asad Pathan and KP Appanna.

Kings XI Punjab: David Hussey, Mandeep Singh, Shaun Marsh, Azhar Mahmood, Ryan Harris, Piyush Chawla, Nitin Saini, Praveen Kumar, Parvinder Awana, Paras Dogra and Abhishek Nayar.

Late charge by Chris Gayle (86 off 58 balls) went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 47 runs in their return leg Indian Premier League fixture at Eden Gardens on Saturday.

Chasing 191-run target, Bangalore lost Saurabh Tiwary (19) after he tried to revive the run chase with Gayle.

Rajat Bhatia struck in the 13th over to reduce Bangalore to 77/4 in 12.5 overs. Tiwary put on 43 runs for the fourth wicket with Gayle and hit a six and a four in his 22-ball innings before the left-hander mistime Bhatia’s delivery.

Bangalore chase started on the wrong foot as they lost three top-order batsmen inside six overs.

Jacque Kallis struck twice in consecutive deliveries to dismiss in-form AB de Villiers (0) and Virat Kohli (18) in the sixth over as Bangalore struggled in their run chase.

Kohli hit three boundaries in his sedate 19-ball innings.

Spinner Yusuf Pathan gave Kolkata an early breakthrough when he dismissed Tillakaratne Dilshan (2) in the very first over to reduce Bangalore to 2/1 in 0.6 overs.

Electing to bat, skipper Gautam Gambhir smashed 93 off 51 balls to help Knight Riders post massive 191-run target for Royal Challengers.

Gambhir hit five huge sixes and nine boundaries in his whirlwind knock to lead the hosts from the front. The skipper added impressive 95 runs with Brendon McCullum (43) – their highest opening stand for the season – to set a brilliant platform for the latter batsmen.

McCullum played a perfect foil for Gambhir as he smashed eight boundaries in his 37-ball knock.

Veteran Jacques Kallis too came to party in the end as the South African batsman smacked three massive sixes and a four in his quick-fire 27-ball 41 innings.

For Bangalore, pacer Vinay Kumar (2-31) took two Kolkata wickets whereas skipper Daniel Vettori (1-29) and Zaheer Khan (1-48) claim a wicket each.

Kolkata skipper completed his fifty off 28 balls soon after McCullum’s wicket. The left-hander hit a six and eight boundaries in his quick-fire knock.

Riding on Gambhir’s exploits Knight Riders raced to hundred in just 11.3 overs.

Bangalore captain Daniel Vettori clean bowled compatriot McCullum in the 11th over to provide his team a crucial breakthrough. McCullum hit two consecutive fours off Vettori before the latter got better of him.

Gambhir and McCullum started the Kolkata innings aggressively. The openers added 46 runs in the first powerplay overs as Kolkata raced to fifty in 6.2 overs.

Earlier, Knight Riders skipper Gambhir won the toss and decided to bat against Royal Challengers.

Kolkata bring in Iqbal Abdulla in place of half-fit Laxmipathy Balaji in the playing XI.

Daniel Vettori is back to lead the Bangalore side, after his injury concerns in the previous game, as he replaces Andrew McDonald in the squad.

Squad:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Gautam Gambhir (Capt), Brendon McCullum, Manvinder Bisla (wk), Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Debabrata Das, Rajat Bhatia, Sunil Narine, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Daniel Vettori (Capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers (wk), Saurabh Tiwary, R Vinay Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Harshal Patel, KP Apanna.

Source: Times of India

Rajasthan Royals suffered the loss of Owais Shah and Shreevats Goswami in quick succession against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

KP Appanna rocked Rajasthan chase by claiming the first four wickets including the prize scalp of Rahul Dravid. Shah and Goswami also failed to consolidate Royals innings.

Rahul Dravid slammed a fifty to keep Rajasthan afloat in the mammoth chase of 190. Dravid reached to his fifty in 34 balls, smashing eight fours in his 58-run knock.

Rajasthan Royals started off well as Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane shared 56-run opening wicket stand against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 5 match at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.

Rahane was not looking in his touch as he managed to score 13 off 18 balls. KP Appanna struck to give Bangalore much-needed breakthrough.

Earlier, a swashbuckling show by AB de Villiers in slog overs and a gritty unbeaten knock by Tilakaratne Dilshan powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a daunting 189/3.

Opener Dilshan stayed unbeaten on 76 while de Villiers slammed a fiery 59 off 23 balls to help visitors set a massive target for hosts.

Villiers smashed five dazzling sixes and three boundaries during his knock and shared a solid 122-run stand for the fourth wicket with Dilshan.

Pacer Pankaj Singh gave Rajasthan first success as he got Virat Kohli (16) caught near boundary line after a steady start by RCB, who were invited to bat.

Kohli scored 16 and shared 23-run stand for the first wicket.

Dilshan then consolidated the innings with Mayank Agarwal. However, Brad Hogg didn’t allow Agarwal (15) to move further and got him caught by Hodge in the 10th over.

Before Bangalroe could recover from the blow, Hogg struck again to trap Chris Gayle in front of the wickets to reduce Bangalore to 67/2.

Dilshan was then joined by de Villiers at the crease. The duo denied Rajasthan any breakthrough and took their side to a big total.

Rajasthan Royals brought in Pankaj Singh and Ajit Chandila while Tilakaratne Dilshan is back in Bangalore along with KP Appanna.

Interestingly, Rajasthan’s only away win has been against Bangalore, by a rather comfortable 59-run margin on April 15.

Equations have changed since, with both Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers rocking for the Daniel Vettori-led side. There is a sense of solidity in the team, with Gayle leading the show.

RCB: Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Daniel Vettori, Arun Karthik, Vinay Kumar, Kotarangada Appanna, Zaheer Khan

RR: Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Owais Shah, Ashok Menaria, Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper, Shreevats Goswami, Ajit Chandila, Brad Hogg, Pankaj Singh, Siddharth Trivedi

Source: Times of India

Chris Gayle (87 off 56 balls) and AB de Villiers (52 off 39 balls) fired again to help Royal Challengers Bangalore notch up comprehensive five-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab in their IPL 5 match at PCA stadium in Mohali.

Bangalore achieved the target in 19.3 overs with three balls to spare. Andrew McDonald and skipper Daniel Vettori remained unbeaten on 8 and 2 respectively to take RCB to their successive victories.

Gayle and De Villiers stitched 131-run stand for the fourth wicket to confirm Punjab’s another loss at their own backyard.

Royal Challengers bounced back after the loss of quick wickets as Gayle and De Villiers reached to their century stand in just 62 balls to take Bangalore closer to victory.

Gayle slammed his consecutive fifty in 41 balls, smacking five fours and a six to keep Bangalore afloat in the match.

Royal Challengers Bangalore stuttered early in chase of 164 after losing three quick wickets against Kings XI Punjab. Parvinder Awana led Bangalore trouble by claiming all first three wickets to leave the Royal Challengers struggling at 25/3 in 5.1 overs.

Saurabh Tiwary, who batted brilliantly against Pune Warriors, mistimed his pull shot that went straight to keeper Nitin Saini’s hand.

Punjab’s seamer struck twice in his first over to dismiss Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Kohli missed out again as he went for the drive, got an inside edge and Shaun Marsh took spectacular catch at point while Agarwal was caught plumb in front of the wicket.

Earlier, Azhar Mahmood blasted in his first match of the IPL with an unbeaten 33 off 14 balls to take Kings XI Punjab to a competitive total of 163/6 against Bangalore.

Mahmood smashed three fours and two sixes in his flamboyant knock to boost Punjab’s chances in the match. Piyush Chawla remained unbeaten on 7 off 3 balls.

Mahmood also added valuable 44 runs stand in 25 balls for the sixth wicket after Kings XI Punjab were struggling with the quick fall of wickets.

Harshal Patel joined the party to pile more misery on Punjab after removing the big fish David Hussey, who played 41-run knock off 34 balls.

David Miller, who replaced injured skipper Adam Gilchrist, failed to grab the opportunity as he mistimed his shot which was caught by Zaheer Khan at extra cover off Andrew McDonald.

McDonald gave Kings XI Punjab their third blow when he got rid of well-settled Shaun Marsh, who scored a 17-ball 26 with the help of three fours and one six.

Shaun Marsh and David Hussey took Punjab past 50-run mark in the seventh over after losing both the openers early on in the innings.

Zaheer Khan gave Royal Challengers Bangalore double breakthrough as he scalped Nitin Saini and Paul Valthaty in his successive overs.

Valthaty’s bad run with the bat continued in the tournament as he failed again to live up to his expectations. Kings XI Punjab got off to bad start as they lost Nitin Saini in the very third over.

Zaheer Khan struck to dismiss Saini to give Punjab first blow after Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Daniel Vettori invited Kings XI Punjab to bat first in the 25th match of the IPL 5.

Bangalore made one change, bringing in Andrew McDonald in place of Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Three players are making their debut for Punjab as Azhar Mahmood has been included in the playing eleven after the player given the visa to play across all Indian cities. Nitin Saini and David Miller replaced injured Adam Gilchrist and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Gilchrist had suffered a hamstring injury on Wednesday and pulled out and the team would be led by the other Aussie, David

Teams:

Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, Paul Valthaty, David Miller, David Hussey, Mandeep Singh, Azhar Mahmood, Nitin Saini, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Harmeet Bansal, Parvinder Awana

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Andrew McDonald, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Saurabh Tiwary, AB de Villiers, Arun Karthik, Daniel Vettori, Vinay Kumar, Harshal Patel, Zaheer Khan

Source: Times of India