In a stunning display of skillful bowling and fielding, Royal Challengers Bangalore ripped apart the Kings XI Punjab batting at the Holkar Stadium, Indore. Batting first at the home ground, Kings XI Punjab just fell off the cliff once their openers were dislodged. With three run-outs in the innings, Kings XI Punjab got all-out for just 88 and have now produced a brilliant chance for RCB to better their net run-rate.

Earlier in the night, RCB Captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to field first. Surprisingly RCB went unchanged in the match in a bid to express themselves. Kings XI Punjab meanwhile had to deal with the injury of Mujeeb Rehman and they brought in Marcus Stoinis. They also brought in Ankit Rajpoot.

The start was a decent one as KL Rahul and Gayle were taking their time and had soon started smacking boundaries. The probable surge of runs was coming until the ball was handed to Umesh Yadav. The last time these two met, it was Umesh Yadav who had rocked KXIP with 3 wickets in an over. Tonight was similar.

Bowling the fifth over, Yadav forced KL Rahul to play a pull shot which was lapped up by De Grandhomme. In the same over, he induced Gayle into a mishit which was caught by Mohammad Siraj. The hopes of KXIP fell flat with the departure of these two and the middle order was now exposed.

With the exception of Aaron Finch’s 26, no other batsman took the responsibility. No one could even cross the double figures. By the end, there were three run-outs and Punjab was folded up for 88. Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with 3/23. RCB needs only 89 runs to win.