IPL 2020: Kings XI Punjab defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 8 wickets

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 8 wickets to end their 5-match losing streak at Sharjah on Thursday. KL Rahul played a captain's knock and hammered Bangalore bowlers all over the park to finish at an unbeaten 61 off 49 balls. Notably, this is Punjab's 2nd win of the IPL 2020 season.

The easy win for Punjab became a thriller in the last over courtesy Yuzvendra Chahal's brilliance. With 2 runs needed from the last over, Chahal bowled 2 dot ball to start with. Chris gayle ran a single on the 3rd one, only for Rahul to play a dot on the 4th delivery. The 5th delivery had 'DRAMA' written all over it -- KL Rahul tried to steal a single but Gayle was run-out in the process. Nicholas Pooran was the new man on strike but he made sure to seal the deal with a six off the last ball.

RCB had a chance to win the match and become the 2nd team after Delhi Capitals to get 12 points in the tournament but some strange tactics spoiled their plan. AB de Villiers, who had smashed an unbeaten 73 off 33 balls in their sides last match, came in to bat after Washington Sundar and Shivam Dube. The decision naturally raised a lot of eyebrows.

The Punjab-based franchise looked in control from the ball one of their 172 run chase as KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal (45 off 25) partnered for an impressive 78 runs for the opening wicket.

Chris Gayle, who got his first game of the IPL 2020 in match 31 of the 13th edition of the cash-rich league, came all guns blazing and gave a superb support to KL Rahul. The southpaw, who last played a



professional cricket match in January, never looked out of match practice throughout his 45-ball 53 innings.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore were off to good start after their openers Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal hit some scintillating boundaries in the first 4 overs of the game. Arshdeep Singh, who came in to bowl the 5th over struck on the first ball and dismissed in-form Padikkal for 18. Virat Kohli walked in the middle to join Finch but the partnership did not flourish much and the Australian departed on the third ball of 7th overs.

Fans were excited to see AB de Villiers and Kohli bat again. RCB in their last match had scene the duo partner for an unbeaten 100 runs as de Villiers had smashed a breathtaking 73 not out off 33. But to the surprise of everyone Washington Sundar walked in at number four. The 21-year-old departed after scoring 13 off 14 and anticipation for an ABD show rose all over again.

The surprise turned into shock this time as Shivam Dube was the next one to walk in. He partnered for 41 runs with captain Kohli before departing for 23 on the final delivery of the 16th over. AB de Villiers finally entered the ground and had 24 balls to weave magic with Virat Kohli at Sharjah.

Punjab pacer Mohammad Shami, on the other hand some other plans as he dismissed Kohli (48) and and de Villiers (2) in the same over. Chris Morris came as a saviour for his team and played a cameo of 25 off 8 balls to take RCB to 171 for 6 at the end of 20 overs. Shami was hit for 24 runs in the final over which included two gigantic sixes from Morris.