The Royal Challengers Bengaluru recorded a score of 95 for 9, with David leading the team at 50* and facing tough challenges from both Jansen and Chahal who took two wickets each. Arshdeep also added to the pressure by taking two wickets himself, leaving Punjab Kings with a tough opponent to face.
RCB had to endure a nearly two-hour delay due to inclement weather in Bengaluru before being engulfed by a dominating performance from PBKS.
Initially, it appeared that the home team would be dismissed for their lowest score yet. However, Tim David stepped up to the plate and prevented them from being bundled out with a final tally of nearly twice as much – 49 – in a rain-shortened 14-over innings.
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It was a dream evening for PBKS as Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl. Arshdeep, who had previously taken two wickets in powerplay overs, repeated his success by getting both RCB openers out with pull shots.
As Salt swung at a full delivery, the ball popped up towards square leg where Inglis quickly made his way to secure the catch. Kohli then headed over to Arshdeep, who altered his delivery to a shorter length in hopes of getting Jansen to hit high over mid-on.
Rajat Patidar confidently struck both Arshdeep and Xavier Bartlett for a four and a six on the leg side. Liam Livingstone aimed to cap off the four-over powerplay with a strong finish. He aggressively approached Bartlett and attempted to hit a length delivery over point, only to send it high in the air towards Priyansh Arya just beyond the fielders.
The RCB batsmen struggled with their shot selection. Jitesh Sharma attempted to hit Marco Jansen’s deliveries, but failed to connect twice. In the subsequent over, Patidar failed to execute a pull off Yuzvendra Chahal and the ball landed in the midwicket area. Unfortunately for Jitesh, his luck didn’t change as he was caught by deep-backward square while attempting a slog sweep on the very next ball.
After two balls, Krunal Pandya was the third batter to be caught out while attempting a pull shot. His arm extension was limited and he ended up lightly touching a short ball from Jansen with his helmet, causing it to pop up into the air. PBKS made use of a DRS decision, resulting in RCB’s score dropping to 33 for 5.
Chahal resumed his tactics of reducing his speeds and taunting the batter, successfully taking down Patidar with a wide looped ball that led to a catch at long-off. Unfortunately for RCB, their decision to bring in Manoj Bhandage as the Impact Player proved ineffective as he fell victim to Jansen’s flick and was dismissed lbw.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar and David collaborated for a 21-run partnership, propelling RCB past the fifty mark. Unfortunately, Harpreet Brar was able to claim back-to-back wickets, dismissing both Bhuvneshwar and Yash Dayal. This put RCB in a difficult position with only nine wickets remaining in 11.5 overs, with a score of 63. However, David continued to find success at the boundary, first against Bartlett and then against Brar, ultimately reaching his fifty and boosting RCB’s score to 95 for 9.
