Sharjah: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) won the toss and chose to bat against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the 31st match of IPL 2020 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Though, RCB skipper Virat Kohli played good innings but got dismissed at 48 runs. Fierce bowling attack of KXIP restricted RCB at 171 runs with a loss of 6 wickets.
RCB's first wicket was down at 4.1 overs. Arshdeep Singh departed Devdutt Paddikal at 18 while the team's score was 38.
Aaron Finch departed scoring 20 runs. Murugan Ashwin took the big wicket.
Next, it was Washington Sundar who lost his wicket at 13. Ashwin added another wicket to his account.
Chris Jordan departed Shivam Dube at 23 while RCB's score was 127.
Ab de Villiers jumped in for rescue of the team but departed early with only 2 runs off 5 balls. Following de Villiers' departure, RCB skipper Virat Kohli too lost his wicket in the same over. Kohli played a good innings scoring 48 runs off 39 balls, however, couldn't make a fifty. Mohammed Shami took the two big wickets in the same over.
However, Chris Morris scored 25 runs off 8 balls and Isuru Uddana scored 10 runs off 5 balls which helped RCB to reach 171 runs giving a winning target of 172 runs to KXIP.
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Apart from the match, what amused the cricket lovers was, veteran West Indies batsman Chris Gayle made his first appearance in the season after recovering from food poisoning.
Spinner Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman makes way for Gayle in the KXIP XI. The Anil Kumble-coached team is looking to lift themselves off the bottom of the table. Their latest defeat came against Kolkata Knight Riders on October 8 while RCB come into this match on the back of an 82-run win against the same side.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kings XI Punjab: Chris Gayle, KL Rahul(captain/wicket-keeper), Mayank Agarwal, Nicholas Pooran, Glenn Maxwell, Deepak Hooda, Chris Jordan, Murugan Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh