Royal Challengers Bangalore and Punjab Kings are up against each other in the 48th match of the Indian Premier League 2021 in Sharjah. RCB are looking to seal a playoff berth with a win while PKBS needs to win this game to stay alive in the competition.
Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. He named an unchanged playing XI for this game. KL Rahul, on the other hand, made three changes in their team that won against Kolkata Knight Riders. Fabian Allen, Nathan Ellis and Deepak Hooda made way for Harpreet Brar, Sarfaraz Khan and Moises Henriques.
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Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal took RCB to a flying start and scored 55 runs inside the powerplay. Both batsmen got early reprieve during the over of Ravi Bishnoi when KL Rahul spilt chances. Padikkal in particular was batting with intent and scored 34 runs in the powerplay. Both added 68 runs for the first wicket before Kohli got out. Daniel Christian, batting at 3, got out for a golden duck.
Moises Henriques was the man with the golden arm and he dismissed well-set Padikkal as well. Glenn Maxwell, however, was in the mood to punish PBKS bowlers. He scored a flamboyant fifty in just 29 balls. AB de Villiers played a handy cameo of 23 runs. Maxwell got out after scoring 57 runs in 33 balls where he scored three fours and four sixes. RCB managed to score 164/7 in 20 overs.
In response, KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal, as usual, took their team to a good start. The duo scored 49 runs in the powerplay and shared 91 runs for the opening wicket. Rahul got out after scoring 39 runs. Nicholas Pooran’s poor form continued as he got out after scoring 3 runs.
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Yuzvendra Chahal bowled beautifully and dismissed Mayank Agarwal (57) and Sarfaraz Khan in his final over to put RCB in the driver’s seat. Aiden Markram tried hard but score only 20 runs and got out to George Garton. Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel bowled tight overs at death and prevailed RCB with a six-run victory. Virat Kohli’s team sealed the third playoff berth.
See how Twitter reacted to this game;
.@yuzi_chahal has rediscovered his mojo. Back in the wicket taking form and looking easily the best among leg spinners in the IPL in the second phase. IMO, most crucial player for #RCB to make headway from here
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 3, 2021
Seven 50+ scores for Mayank Agarwal in IPL since 2020 and #PBKS have gone on to lose all seven games.
KL Rahul played in six of these games and scored at a SR of 125.20. (Mayank SR 171.28)#RCBvPBKS
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) October 3, 2021
Bug effort from #RCB to stave off Punjab’s strong bid to win. At one stage, looked like this would be easy. Not for the first time, Punjab lost their way towards the end. Chahal’s bowling was the difference. #RCB now in the play-offs, enjoying a fruitful season
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 3, 2021
Solid team this year and even solid performance #rcb #top4
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 3, 2021
So @RCBTweets qualify again. This year?
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 3, 2021
So @RCBTweets are officially through to the last 4. Punjab should ask themselves how them have blown it time and again.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) October 3, 2021
Great bowling by @RCBTweets to restrict the @PunjabKingsIPL ! RCB makes it to the play offs now very interesting to see the battle for the 4th spot! #IPL2021 #RCBvsPBKS
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) October 3, 2021
