IPL 2020: KXIP vs RCB, Kl Rahul Smashed 132, Kings XI Punjab beats Royal Challengers Bangalore by 97 Runs in One-sided Contest

Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) registered their first win of the season, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 97 runs in a one-sided match thanks to a brilliant century by their captain KL Rahul. In reply to 207 runs, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore was all out by scoring just 106 runs in 17 overs. The hero of Punjab’s victory was its captain KL Rahul, who brilliantly smashed 132 runs. After that, his bowlers did not give RCB any chance to survive the match.  

Pressure on Royal Challengers Bangalore

The pressure was evident on the Royal Challengers Bangalore team, chasing a mammoth target of 207 runs. They lost their 3 crucial wickets at the beginning of the innings. Devdutt Padikkal (1) and Virat Kohli (1), who had a great fifty in the last match, were picked by Sheldon Cottrell, while Josh Philippe (0) was sent to the pavilion by Mohammed Shami. On a total score of just 4 runs, the Royals lost their 3 crucial wickets. 

After losing 3 wickets in quick succession, Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers tried to handle the innings. De Villiers also hit 4 boundaries and 1 six from one end. From the other end, Finch was accumulating the innings and had hit three fours. But Ravi Bishnoi bowled him out. After this, in the next 3 balls, Murugan Ashwin trapped de Villiers in his net and the Royals had lost 5 wickets for just 57 runs.

After De Villiers and Finch, the Royals’ defeat was almost settled but Shivam Dube, along with Washington Sundar, tried to reduce the margin of defeat but Glenn Maxwell bowled Dube (12) on the score of 83 and gave the sixth blow to RCB. A few moments later Umesh Yadav was also bowled as 7th wicket by Ravi Bishnoi. 

Kings XI Punjab’s Innings

After losing the toss, Kings were invited by RCB to bat first. Captain KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal started off brilliantly for Kings XI Punjab. Both of them added 50 runs on the scoreboard in the powerplay without losing any wickets. But as soon as the power play was over, RCB captain Virat Kohli put his smartest bowler Yuzvendra Chahal on the attack. Chahal bowled Mayank Agarwal (26) in his first over on his googly. 

Nicholas Pooran (17) then shared a 57-run second-wicket partnership with Rahul. Glenn Maxwell (5) was also dismissed after some time. At the time of Maxwell’s dismissal in the 16th over, Punjab’s score was 128 runs. It seemed that the Royal Challengers team would now curb the Kings. But the Kings captain was at the crease and he changed his gears, sensing the circumstances. The King’s team scored 74 runs in their last 4 overs to get Bangalore out of the match. 

After 16 overs, he had only 72 runs off 51 balls. After this, in the last 15 balls of his innings, he made a quick 50 runs. During this time, on most occasions, he kept the strike in his hand and Karun Nair (15*) standing at the other end got only 8 balls to play. Rahul did not stop till scoring a century, he hit 5 sixes in the last two overs to bring the Kings score to 200.