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Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) finally registered their second victory in their IPL 2020 campaign after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by eight wickets at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing 172, KXIP started superbly. The opening pair of KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal put together 78 runs for the opening wicket. Agarwal missed out from scoring his half-century by five runs as Yuzvendra Chahal cleaned him up.
On number three, KXIP management sent Chris Gayle, who was playing his first match. And the move clearly worked for Punjab as the Caribbean superstar scored 53 off 45 balls.
Both Rahul and Gayle added 93 runs for the second wicket to equal the score before the ‘Universe Boss’ met a run-out in the last over of their chase.
Rahul scored unbeaten 61 off 49 balls to take KXIP over the line.
Kohli, Morris guide RCB to 171/6
Earlier, KXIP bowled with a lot of discipline and restricted RCB to 171/6. Skipper Virat Kohli top-scored with 48 off 39 balls in his 200th game for RCB. The likes of AB de Villiers (2), Devdutt Padikkal (18), and Aaron Finch (20) failed to contribute enough with the willow.
However, Chris Morris (25 off 8 balls) played a cameo down the order in the death overs that took his team to 171/6.
For Punjab, Mohammad Shami and Murugan Ashwin bagged two scalps each while Arshdeep Singh and Chris Jordan picked up one wicket apiece.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
In spite of Chris Morris scoring 24 runs off the last over, 171 wasn’t enough for @RCBTweets. Even though they fell short by 20-25runs, @klrahul11 & @henrygayle made the chase look competitive in the last 15 balls. 😋
But a good win for @lionsdenkxip in the end.#RCBvKXIP
— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 15, 2020
Restricted strong RCB's batting for less than par score. #Ashwin & other bowlers did a great job. While chasing #Rahul, #Mayank & vintage #Gayle batted beautifully. Then, there was a twist in the tale. And congratulations @lionsdenkxip on the much needed victory @IPL #RCBvsKXIP
— Vinay Kumar R (@Vinay_Kumar_R) October 15, 2020
That's that from Sharjah. What a nail-biting finish as #KXIP win by 8 wickets.#Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/9CHukKlTjO
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) October 15, 2020
Universe Boss is back. And #KXIP has bossed this game. Two wins in #IPL2020 thus far. And both against #PlayBold #RCBvKXIP
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 15, 2020
This is the first time in #IPL history a batting second won off the last ball despite losing just 2 wickets!
There have been four other last ball wins, where the sides batting 2nd had lost three wickets! #IPL2020#RCBvsKXIP#KXIPvRCB#Dream11IPL— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 15, 2020
I’m just loving it..☄️
Its like watching an action film when chris gayle’s on strike 🔥🔥🔥🔥#Gaylestorm #RCBvKXIP #ChrisGayle #IPL2020 @lionsdenkxip— Himansh Kohli (@himanshkohli) October 15, 2020
Well played to @henrygayle . Welcome back, its been a while but great to have him back. Nice knock from K L Rahul who balanced his inning well.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) October 15, 2020
KXIP's 2nd win of #IPL2020, both against RCB.
RCB's 3rd defeat of #IPL2020, two of those against KXIP. #RCBvKXIP
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) October 15, 2020
The #UniverseBoss is back & so are #kXIP !! #KXIPvRCB @IPL
— Mithun Manhas (@MithunManhas) October 15, 2020
Very impressed by @klrahul11's captaincy in this match, the way he shuffled his bowlers and his batting!
Also good to see the Universe Boss back at business.
Got everyone nervous in the end but well deserved win @lionsdenkxip#RCBvKXIP— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349) October 15, 2020
What a legend 👏🏿 @henrygayle first game back & you do this 😎#UniverseBoss 🏏 #IPL2020 #RCBvKXIP
— Yannick Bolasie (@YannickBolasie) October 15, 2020
The #boss is back #Gayle #KXIPvRCB
— Hemang Badani (@hemangkbadani) October 15, 2020
For me, Chris Jordan was #KXIP's unsung hero of the match. He didn't have a great #IPL2020 before this match but he bowled well today which in the end did make a great difference to the desperate win! #RCBvKXIP
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) October 15, 2020
Chris Gayle has been the greatest T20 player. No doubt about that. The question was whether he still is. I don't know that but he is still value.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 15, 2020
After losing 6matches the way @mayankcricket celebrated the win against rcb was like as if he has won the ipl…I can understand his feelings🕺🕺
— Samip Rajguru (@samiprajguru) October 15, 2020
