Royal Challenger Bengaluru’s home woes continued as the side slipped to a five-wicket defeat to Punjab Kings in the IPL in Bengaluru on Friday.
RCB did put up a brave fight in defence of a 96-run target but could not prevent a third straight loss at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
In a rain affected outing, RCB was on the backfoot right from the start, having lost a crucial toss. Batting first proved to be tough ask on a sticky pitch, and the home team did itself no favours by making an odd change to the playing eleven. Southpaw batter Devdutt Padikkal was dropped in favour of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma, even though it was RCB which took first strike.
RCB vs PBKS highlights
The move proved to be disastrous, as RCB crawled to 95 for nine in the reduced 14 overs. In the chase, PBKS suffered a tremor when Shreyas Iyer and Josh Inglis were sent back in quick succession. Hopes of an RCB comeback, however, was dashed by a composed Nehal Wadhera (33 n.o., 19b, 3×4, 3×6).
After persistent rain delayed the start of play by over two hours, RCB openers Phil Salt and Virat Kohli finally made their way out to take strike. The sticky pitch made strokeplay near impossible, but the RCB batters were unprepared to change their gameplan.
Salt, Kohli and Liam Livingstone tried to force the pace and paid the price. Length deliveries were skied high without timing, resulting in catching practise. The PBKS fielders were up to the task, with Marco Jansen and Priyansh Arya pulling off fine grabs to dismiss Kohli and Livingstone respectively.
RCB continued to lose wickets in a heap, a result of more reckless shots. When impact player and local lad Manoj Bhandage was removed by Jansen, RCB fell into a deep hole at 42 for seven.
The lowest T20 score recorded at this venue – 82 by RCB in the first ever IPL game, in 2008 – loomed perilously close. It took a fighting unbeaten 50 from Tim David to keep RCB afloat, even if the ship would eventually sink.