Former South African star batsman AB De Villiers scored a blistering 82, as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Kings XI Punjab by 17 runs at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Wednesday.
Bangalore made 2 changes in the XI by including Tim Southee and Washington Sundar in place of injured Dale Steyn and Pawan Negi, while Punjab dropped Sam Curran and Harpreet and brought in Ankit Rajpoot and Nicolas Pooran.
After being sent into bat by Punjab skipper, Bangalore’s opening pair of Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli started aggressively, as the duo added 35 runs in 19 balls, before Kohli was caught at extra cover by Mandeep Singh off Mohammed Shami for 13.
Patel took on the Kings XI Punjab bowlers and did not allow them to settle down. After the power play Murugun Ashwin provided a vital blow by dismissing the former for a quickfire 43.
RCB lost wickets of Moeen Ali and Akshdeep Nath in succession leaving them in spot of bother at 81/4.
The pair of AB De Villiers and Marcus Stoinis shared an unbeaten 121 runs for the fifth wicket to take the home side to mammoth score of 202/4 at the end of their allotted 20 overs. The former Proteas star batsman remained unbeaten on 82, while Stoinis was not out on 46.
Chasing a total of 203, Chris Gayle and Lokesh Rahul made a fantastic beginning as the pair added 42 runs for the opening wicket, before the latter was dismissed by Umesh Yadav for a breezy 23.
Mayank Agarwal and Rahul batted positively, as the pair added 59 runs for the second wicket, before both the Karnataka batsman fell to Stoinis and Ali for 35 & 42 respectively.
David Miller and Pooran put on 68 runs for the fourth wicket, before Navdeep Saini bowled a brilliant penultimate over by dismissing Miller and the dangerous Trinidadian left handed batsman.
Needing 27 runs off the final over, Umesh Yadav had a better day with the ball by claiming 2 wickets as Kings XI Punjab were restricted to 185/7 in 20 overs.
The 31 year old Umesh Yadav was Royal Challengers best bowler as he claimed 3/36 in 4 overs, while Saini bagged 2 wickets.
De Villiers was declared the Player of the Match for his superb knock.
The 43rd match of the Indian Premier League will be played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals at Kolkata on 25 April, Thursday.