Sharjah: A solid opening partnership of Kings XI Punjab (KXIP)'s skipper KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal in the 31st match of IPL 2020 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday helped KXIP to win against RCB by 8 wickets. A super-fast fifty of 'Universal Boss' Chris Gayle and Rahul indeed were spectacular and a great contribution towards the team's victory. KXIP scored 177 runs at a loss of 2 wickets.
Lovely batting from Mayank with three boundaries (6,4,4) in one over of Chahal was a treat to watch. Timing and elegance in all these three shots were all that the cricket fans missed for a long while. However, it was Chahal who departed Mayank after a brilliant 45.
Following the first dismissal of KXIP's wicket, Chris Gayle entered the arena. Gayle also shared his contribution to lead the match.
Rahul scored his fifty off just 37 deliveries. Two magnificent boundaries of Rahul sent the balls out of the stadium. Rahul scored his 20th IPL and 4th Dream 11 IPL fifty in today's match.
Chris Gayle also scored a fifty very fast and scored a record of 4500 runs in IPL.
A long-run partnership of Rahul and Gayle lead the team to clinch its victory from RCB. However, Gayle got runout in the midway scoring 53 runs off 45 balls. Gayle and Rahul's partnership lead the team to equal its score with RCB.
After the dismissal of Gayle, Nicholas Pooran entered the field and hit a six which was a winning shot for the team. Rahul scored 61 runs off 49 deliveries and remained not out.
Earlier today, RCB won the toss and chose to bat against KXIP.
Related Story: IPL 2020: KXIP Restrict RCB At 171/6
Isuru Udana (10) and Chris Morris (25) smashed 24 off the last over to take RCB to 171/6 against KXIP at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
RCB were struggling for much of the innings despite the quick start to the innings provided by openers Aaron Finch (20) and Devdutt Padikkal (18), as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals after the opening stand was broken.
AB de Villiers (2), who had smashed an unbeaten 73 off 33 balls in RCB's previous game, was demoted to No. 7 on Thursday with Washington Sundar (13) and Shivam Dube (23) being sent ahead of him. De Villiers came in during the 18th over and was dismissed by Mohammed Shami after scoring just two runs off five balls.
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RCB captain Virat Kohli was the highest scorer for his team with 48 off 39 balls but it was Morris and Udana who took the team past the 150-run mark. Shami, who had given away just 21 runs in his first three overs and accounted for the wickets of Kohli and De Villiers, ended up being hit for a four and three sixes in the last over.