RCB's Umesh Yadav successfully appeals for the LBW for wicket of Aaron Finch of Kings XI Punjab. PTIBengaluru: Pacer Umesh Yadav and AB de Villiers helped Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in their IPL match here on Friday.
Put into bat, KXIP were reduced to 36 for 3 in the fourth over after Umesh (3/23) dismissed Mayank Aggarwal (15), Aaron Finch (0) and Yuvraj Singh (4) in the space of six balls in his second over to leave the visiting side in trouble early in their innings.
Agarwal edged the first ball of the fourth over to wicketkeeper Quiton to Kock before Australian Finch was trapped LBW in the next delivery. Yuvraj was out in the final ball of that over as it went through his gate to knock off the middle stump.
Umesh's pace colleague Kulwant Khejroliya and Chris Woakes and off-spinner Washington Sundar then took over in the later part of the KXIP innings with two wicket apiece as the visiting side could not even complete their allotted 20-over quota as they were all out in 19.2 overs.
For KXIP, only Lokesh Rahul put up some resistance as he hit 47 off just 30 balls at the top of the order with the help of two fours and four sixes. Captain Ravichandran Ashwin contributed 33 off 21 balls while Karun Nair made 29.
The visiting side had two periods of batting collapse - one at the start when Umesh grabbed three quick wickets and the other after Rahul was out in the 12th over.
The KXIP innings, however, began with a bang with Rahul taking 16 runs from the opening over bowled by Woakes whom he hit for a four and two sixes. Rahul's aggression kept the run rate high despite losing wickets as KXIP reached 84 for 3 at the halfway mark.
But just as he was settling down with Nair and nearing his half century, Rahul fell to Sundar as he top-edged while trying for a slog-sweep for Sarfaraz Khan to take a catch.
Nair did not survive long as he fell to Khejroliya in the 13th over leaving KXIP to 102 for 5 at that stage. MP Stoinis (11) became Sundar's second victim in the next over before Axar Patel (2) was trapped lbw by Khejroliya for just two runs in the 15th over.
At the end of 15th over, KXIP were 122 for 7 and they could add 33 more runs at the expense of three wickets thanks to Ashiwn's 21-ball 33 which was laced with three fours and a six.
Brief Scores:
Kings XI Punjab: 155 all out in 19.2 overs (K L Rahul 47, R Ashwin 33; Umesh Yadav 3/23)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 159 for 6 in 19.3 overs (A B de Villiers 57, Quinton de Kock 45; R Ashwin 2/30).
