Bangalore down Punjab in thriller

MOHALI: In a contest that was decided off the last ball of the match, Royal Challengers Bangalore held their nerve to deny Kings XI Punjab by a solitary run in the Indian Premier League on Monday night.

Punjab, given to chase 176, needed 17 of the final over. After Farhaan Behardien picked up a single off the first ball of the final over, Marcus Stoinis put away Chris Jordan for a six and a four to bring the equation down to six runs from the final three balls.

But Stoinis couldn’t score of the fourth ball and could only score two twos of the final two deliveries. RCB kept the hosts to 174-4 and took home two points from the match at PCA I.S. Bindra Stadium.

Hashim Amla and Murali Vijay added 45 at the top of the chase, after which Wriddhiman Saha and Vijay added 43 runs. Despite a mid-innings stutter, the presence of a well-set Murali Vijay meant Punjab were always in the chase.

But in an attempt to put away a Shane Watson short delivery, the Punjab captain holed out to the fielder manning the square-leg boundary for a 57-ball 89 (12 fours, one six) and his dismissal gave the visitors the opening they needed.

Watson was brilliant in taking 2-22 in a man-of-the-match effort.

Earlier, Bangalore collected 175-6 after collapsing from 63-0 to 67-3 before A.B. de Villiers (64 off 35, five fours and two sixes) and Sachin Baby (33) added 88.

Summarised scores:

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE 175-6 in 20 overs (A.B. de Villiers 64, K.L. Rahul 42, Sachin Baby 33, V. Kohli 20; K.C. Cariappa 2-16, Sandeep Sharma 2-49); KINGS XI PUNJAB 174-4 in 20 overs (M. Vijay 89, M.P. Stoinis 34 not out, H.M. Amla 21; S.R. Watson 2-22).

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2016