Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Punjab Kings by six runs in the 48th match of the IPL 2021 and sealed their play-off berth, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, here on Sunday.
With this win, RCB now have 16 points and became the third team after CSK and DC to have made it to the last four stages.
Riding on Glenn Maxwell's quickfire fifty (57 off 33 balls), Royal Challengers Bangalore posted a total of 164 for 7 in 20 overs. Apart from Maxwell, Devdutt Padikkal also played a vital knock of 40 runs for RCB.
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In reply, openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal came all guns blazing and gave Punjab Kings a solid start. The duo added 91 runs for the opening stand.
Shahbaz Ahmed, in the 12th over of the innings, gave the much-needed breakthrough after he dismissed Rahul.
Yuzvendra Chahal then picked three wickets including the big scalp of Mayank Agarwal and brought RCB back into the contest. From there on, Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals.
In the end, Punjab could score 158 for 6 in 20 overs and fell short of the target by 6 runs.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 164/7 (Glenn Maxwell 57 off 33 balls, Devdutt Padikkal 40 off 38 balls, Moises Henriques 3/12, Mohammed Shami 3/39) beat Punjab Kings 158 for 6 in 20 overs ( KL Rahul 39 off 35 balls, Mayank Agarwal 57, Yuzvendra Chahal 3/29)