Post-match show
Our experts break down this encounter here.
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Are RCB a mid-table team now
4 Number of matches RCB have now won in a row.
They started pathetically. Many expected another useless season. But this has been a commanding performance, thanks in large part to Virat Kohli, who hit 92 off 47, then pulled off a spectacular direct-hit run out of ne of the opposition's best batters, Shashank Singh.
In the end they win by 60, and keep themselves in the hunt for a playoffs position.
Punjab Kings will find it exceedingly difficult to get into that top four from here.
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Punjab Kings crashing
At the end of over 13, Punjab Kings needed 96 from 42 balls, with Sam Curran and and Shashank Singh at the crease. They had an outside chance.
This is what happened in the 3.1 overs since:
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They are nine down, with too many to chase. We're calling it. It's over.
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Kohli creates some magic on the field
Didn't take a genius to figure that Shashank Singh was Punjab Kings' best chance of chasing down this score. He was batting on 37 off 18.
Sam Curran tucks one towards midwicket and takes off for two, expecting the deep fielder Kohli to take a while to get there. But Kohli tears in like a man possessed, swoops on the ball, collects it and lets it go in one smooth motion while he is diving, and the ball skids along the surface and hits the one stump he has to aim at. It is truly an exceptional piece of fielding and it finds Shashank short.
Unlike Kohli, who ran the most direct line to that ball, and collected it and released it as fast as humanly possible, Shashank had run a less-than-optimal line, and also didn't dive as he strove to make his crease. Could this be one of the big moments in the game.
Either way, Kohli is ecstatic, celebrating in his orange cap.
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Punjab Kings spinners turn it on
Karn Sharma was hit for a six and a four in each of his first two overs, but then struck late in those overs too, to remove Rossouw, and then Jiten Sharma with a BIG lebreak.
Left arm spinner Swapnil Singh had already got rid of Prabhsimran Singh in the first over. In the 11th, he gets Liam Livingstone easily caught at cover for a duck, off a leading edge. Beautiful bowling.
3 Number of wickets Swapnil and Karn have taken between ninth and 12th overs.
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Rossouw goes. PBKS behind the rate.
After getting some attention from the physio, Rossouw holes out to long off, mis-hitting a Karn Sharma delivery that came quicker to him than he thought.
At the 10 over mark, the required rate is up at 12.8, surpassing the run rate. Can RCB turn the pressure on?
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Rossouw rushes to fifty
243 Rossouw's strike rate when he completed his half century
A six down the ground gets Rilee Rossouw to the milestone - his first fifty of the season. He's hit eight fours and two sixes so far.And he's still smashing em. Another six and four have been hit while I type this.
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Rossouw powers through as Bairstow falls
Jonny Bairstow falls to Lockie Ferguson off the second-to-last ball of the powerplay, but Punjab Kings are still in a relatively decent place. Their run rate at the end of the six overs is higher than their required rate. They now have Shashank Singh - their tournament top scorer - at the crease.
RCB still have work to do to defend this big total.
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Punjab Kings lose Prabhsimran, but hit some boundaries to start
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Swapnil Singh gets Prabhsimran Singh - one of Punjab Kings' best this season - lbw off the fourth ball. But Bairstow is still there, and Rossouw has already started cracking boundaries. Punjab Kings need to make sure they stay up with that 12rpo required rate though. Or get ahead of it, ideally, while the powerplay is on.
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Mid-match show
While we wait for Punjab Kings' response, our experts pick apart RCB's innings.
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Harshal bowls a spectacular final over
RCB were 238 for 4 after 19, with Cameron Green on 45 off 25 and Dinesh Karthik on 18 off 6.
Then Harshal bowls this over:
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Three wickets, to put him two clear of Jasprit Bumrah for the purple cap stakes. (Harshal has now got 20 wickets this season to Bumrah's 18.)
They were quality deliveries this over too. He got DK with a ball that hurried on to the batter, and which he could only miscue to long on. He took out Mahipal Lomror's off stump with a dipping slower ball. And last ball of the innings, he has Green caught athletically at long on too, Sam Curran running around to take a diving catch.
RCB will still be the happier team, you'd think. But Harshal has given Punjab Kings something to cheer.
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Kohli goes, but Green running hot
92 Runs Kohli and Green scored together, off 46 balls
Kohli slices an Arshdeep Singh delivery into the hands of Rilee Russouw at deep third. He goes eight short of what would have been a second century this season.
But RCB are still running hot. Cameron Green is striking it powerfully. Dinesh Karthik looks immediately comfortable at the crease. RCB are well placed to breach 250 here.
You can still mourn the Kohli wicket though.
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Dharamsala goes wild for Kohli
The man's been in spectacular touch today, the most recent of his pieces of genius a whippy wallop over cow corner off a Sam Curran slower ball.
The Dharamsala crowd is drinking it all up. "Kohli, Kohli, Kohli" is reverberating around the stadium.
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*DJ Khaled voice* "Another one!"
It's the sixth time Virat Kohli has crossed fifty this season. On this occasion he gets there he gets there with that vintage flick through midwicket, off the 32nd ball he has faced. It's been a classic Kohli innings, using his feet nicely, whipping his wrists beautifully through the ball, timing outstanding.
He's set them up for a big score. Can he finish?
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Good news?
Update: We'll be re-starting at 8:55 local time.
Although hail has fallen as well as rain, it looks like the precipitation has ceased, and the covers are coming off now. Fingers crossed for a re-start soon.
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Patidar falls. So does the rain.
72 The no. of runs Patidar and Kohli put on together, off 32 balls.
Sam Curran bowls a full ball wide of off stump, Patidar reaches for it and nicks it to the keeper. But as he is walking off the field, the ground staff at Dharamsala rush on with the covers, because some rain has begun to fall.
Patidar contributed a mammoth 55 off 23 balls to this partnership, though. And it's largely thanks to him that RCB are nicely placed here.
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The many drops of PBKS
PBKS have been particularly sloppy in the field. Wristspinner Rahul Chahar draws an edge from Patidar, but Bairstow, the keeper, is a bit late to react to it and gives the batter another life. Either side of that drop, Patidar whacked Chahar for three sixes.
Kohli had started quickly against pace. Patidar has started quickly against spin. The ball flies in the rarefied air of Dharamsala. Ominous signs for PBKS?
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A series of unfortunate events for Kaverappa
Kaverappa has had three catches dropped off his bowling in three overs. Patidar is the latest RCB batter to be dropped by Harshal at deep fine leg on 0. Harshal throws his head back in disappointment. Poor Kaverappa.
Despite those lapses in the field, Kaverappa's powerplay figures are impressive: 3-0-20-2. Bowling with the new ball is his forte in domestic cricket for Karnataka across formats. He is also capable of reverse-swinging the old ball. Bengaluru huduga is doing the job for PBKS against RCB.
However, PBKS are leaking runs at the other end. RCB are 56 for 2 in six overs, with Kohli on 22 off 14 and Patidar 13 off eight.
Kaverappa bowls four on the trot and comes away with 4-0-36-2. On another day, he might have finished with four or five wickets.
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Kaverappa strikes on IPL debut
Kaverappa, the Karnataka seamer, has had to endure a long wait for his maiden IPL wicket. He was snapped up by PBKS for his base price of INR 20 lakh in the IPL 2022 auction. After being on the bench for two seasons, he finally got a chance this evening. He could've got Kohli for a duck in his very first over, but the batter was reprieved. In his next over, however, Kaverappa gets on the board in the IPL, having du Plessis hole out to the off-side sweeper. He bowls into the pitch, gets it to stick in the surface and draws a mis-hit from the RCB captain. Gone for nine off seven balls.
Oops! Kohli gets another life in Kaverappa's second over, with Rossouw dropping an even more difficult catch. The force of the shot ensures the ball bursts out of the hands of Rossouw at short extra cover.
Kohli has been dropped on 0 and 10. Can he capitalise on those chances in Dharamsala?
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Kohli gets a life in the first over
Debutant V Kaverappa could’ve dismissed Virat Kohli for his first IPL wicket had Ashutosh Sharma not dropped a fairly difficult catch at point. Kaverappa found outswing, like he often does with the new ball in domestic cricket for Karnataka, but it didn’t translate into a wicket. Ashutosh runs back from point, gets into an unstable side-on position and drops a skier. Du Plessis then gets cracking with back-to-back fours through extra-cover
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King Kohli still reigns
542 No. of runs Virat Kohli has scored this season, with a strike rate of 148
Although RCB have been woeful again, Kohli has been a talisman, topping the league for some time now. It just hasn't been enough.
Here are the teams. If you haven't heard, Punjab Kings have chosen to bowl first.
RCB: F du Plessis*, V Kohli, WG Jacks, RM Patidar, MK Lomror, C Green, KD Karthik†, Swapnil Singh, KV Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, LH Ferguson
PBKS: JM Bairstow†, SM Curran*, Prabhsimran Singh, RR Rossouw, LS Livingstone, Shashank Singh, AR Sharma, RD Chahar, HV Patel, Arshdeep Singh, V Kaverappa.
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Preview show
Our experts look ahead to this encounter
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Hey folks
4 No. of matches RCB and PBKS have won, out of 11 outings this seaons. Pathetic, no?
Hope you're all doing better than Royal Challngers Bangalore and Punjab Kings are in the IPL. Because, you know, they are essentially tied for last place at the moment.
We'll have our studio experts break down this clash for you in a bit.
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