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Jitesh Sharma's fightback went in vain as he ran out of partners and Punjab Kings (PBKS) lost at home to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 24 runs. Virat Kohli donned the captaincy hat again as semi-fit Faf du Plessis was not fit to field. Kohli and Du Plessis’ love affair with Mohali continued as they scored half-centuries to help their side post a fighting total which turned out to be too much for Sam Curran-led side in the absence of an injured Shikhar Dhawan.
PBKS' run chase got off to a bad start. Mohammed Siraj struck off the second ball as he trapped Atharva Taide in front of the wickets. Prabhsimran Singh looked in good touch whereas Matthew Short hit Wayne Parnell for a six. Kohli introduced Wanindu Hasaranga in the third over and he got the wicket of Short first ball with a googly. Playing his first match of the season after getting a clearance from the board, Liam Livingstone lost his wicket to Siraj in the fourth over. In the sixth over, Harpreet Singh Bhatia got run out after scoring 13 runs off nine balls. PBKS had 49/4 on the board after powerplay overs.
In the ninth over, Prabhsimran hit Hasaranga for two sixes. He also got dropped by Harshal Patel. In the 10th over, PBKS suffered another run out. Curran got out trying to sneak a quick single. Patel erred and Jitesh hit him for a six off no ball. In the 12th over, Kohli brought back Parnell. The left-arm pacer got hit for a six but then got the big wicket of Prabhsimran. The opener scored 46 runs from 30 balls including three fours and four sixes. Shahrukh Khan dropped off the second ball he faced. He hit a six off the last ball of 12th over. Hasaranga struck again and got the wicket of Shahrukh in the 13th over.
With seven wickets down, all eyes were on Jitesh. He hit Hasaranga for a six in the 15th over. With clouds getting darker, Jitesh put his foot on the paddle and hit Vyshak for a four and a six. PBKS were slightly behind the DLS par score. In the 17th over, Patel bowled a near-perfect over but Kohli dropped Jitesh’s catch. In the 18th over, Siraj bowled a perfect yorker to get Brar’s wicket. Siraj bowled another yorker to get rid of Nathan Ellis. In the penultimate over, Jitesh went for a big shot against Patel and got caught at point. He got out after scoring 41 runs from 27 balls as PBKS got all out for 150 and lost the match by 24 runs.
Earlier, Curran won the toss and opted to field first. Kohli and Du Plessis took their time and the launched a brutal onslaught in the powerplay overs. Du Plessis hit Brar for two sixes in the fourth over. With few more boundaries, RCB had 59/0 on the board after powerplay overs. The partnership continued to frustrate PBKS bowlers. In the 10th over, the Proteas batter got to his 29th half-century from 31 balls. They shared their third 100-plus partnership for RCB.
PBKS bowlers made a comeback in the middle overs keeping Kohli quiet. He reached his half-century from 40 deliveries in the 14th over. In the 17th over, Brar struck twice to push RCB on the back foot. Kohli got out trying to play a paddle shot as Jitesh took a spectacular catch. He scored 59 runs from 47 balls including five fours and one six. Maxwell came out to bat and went for a wild slog. He got out for a golden duck.
Du Plessis hit Nathan Ellis for a six in the 18th over but got out the next ball. Deceived by the slower ball, he got caught at long-off by Curran. The opener scored 84 runs from 56 deliveries including five fours and as many sixes. In the penultimate over, Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik hit Arshdeep Singh for one four each. Karthik got out off the last ball of the over as he could not cross the deep backward square leg boundary. In the final over, RCB scored 11 runs and posted 174/4.
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