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Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) tasted their first victory of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 as they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 97 runs, on Friday (September 27).
A sensational century from KL Rahul powered KXIP to a daunting total of 206/3 in twenty overs. Rahul slammed 132 runs in just 69 deliveries to become the first centurion of IPL 2020. His knock was laced with fourteen fours and seven sixes.
RCB, however, could have avoided Rahul’s blitzkrieg that took the match away from them. Virat Kohli made a meal out of the morsel, dropping him twice in space of six balls. KXIP skipper beautifully capitalized on missed chances and went on to slam 42 runs in the next nine balls.
Kohli had a terrible day with the bat as well as he fell prey to Sheldon Cottrell at a meagre score of one run.
Later on, in the post-match conference, RCB skipper took the ‘brunt’ of defeat on himself.
“I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it, not the best day in the office, couple of important chances of KL when he was set and that cost us 35-40 runs at a later stage. Maybe if we restricted them to 180 we wouldn’t have been under pressure from ball one of the chase,” said Kohli.
‘Bishnoi has a lot of fight in him’: Rahul
Chasing the target, the Challengers couldn’t have imagined the worst start. They lost three of their batsmen inside the powerplay.
AB de Villiers and Aaron Finch tried to stitch a partnership, but they too got buried under the weight of required run-rate that was surging upwards after every over.
Ravi Bishnoi claimed Finch’s wicket in the eighth over to further compound the misery of RCB. Bishnoi (3/32) picked up two more wickets and finished the match on a positive note.
Rahul was quite impressed with the leg-spinner and said that the latter carries a yearning desire to do well.
“Something that has impressed me in him [Bishoi]. I watched the U-19 World Cup. He has a lot of fight in him. Every time I throw the ball he wants to do well, he was a little nervous bowling at guys like Finchy and AB, once he got through that he did well,” remarked KXIP leader in the post-match presentation.
