KXIP canter to comfortable victory over RCB in IPL
INDORE : Hashim Amla’s gain is AB de Villiers’ loss. In a match dominated by two South Africans, the former had the last laugh with 38-ball 58 as Kings XI Punjab won the second match on the trot defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets in Indore on Monday.
Amla’s innings included four fours and three sixes to negate an equally destructive innings by AB de Villiers (89*), for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Chasing 149 to win, Kings XI reached the target in 14.3 overs, to make it two wins in two games.
Captain Glenn Maxwell continued his fiery form for Kings XI Punjab too, scoring 43* off 22 balls, with the help of four sixes and three fours.
Batting first, the Royal Challengers Bangalore notched 148/4 in 20 overs, with AB de Villiers striking a 46-ball 89* that included nine sixes and three fours. He struck crucial 46 and 80*-run stands with Mandeep Singhh and Stuart Binny for the fourth and fifth wickets respectively. While de Villiers’ innings was cheered on by the Indore crowd, the Kings XI Punjab almost choked the Bangalore batsmen but for the South African great, who was playing his first match of the 2017 edition. Varun Aaron (2/21), Axar Patel (1/12) and Sandeep Sharma (1/26) were economical too as they restricted Bangalore to below 150.
In reply, Kings XI Punjab started on a strong note. Manan Vohra (34) and Hashim Amla struck 62 in just six overs as the home team looked solid in the chase. The duo’s stand reached 50 in just 30 balls.
After Vohra was trapped plumb in front of the wicket by Tymal Mills, there was a brief lull. Axar Patel followed Vohra soon. But then Kings Punjab captain Maxwell arrived on the scene. Both of them combined to notch an unbeaten 72-run stand to take Kings XI to victory.
Amla played a very uncharacteristic knock, going for the boundaries right from start. Two quick wickets did not deter him. He was even dropped by Brian Stanlake, while batting on 20, off Tymal Mills. He, however, remained unaffected as he reached the half-century mark in just 32 balls.
The presence of Maxwelll, who remained unbeaten on 43 (22b), only emboldened as the duo took Kings XI to a sweet vicrtory.
DEVILLIERS’ MAGIC
Earlier, de Villers replaced Chris Gayle – 25 runs short of 10,000 T20 runs- in the Bangalore line-up. And nobody was complaining. He almost singlehandedly took Bangalore near the 150run mark.
At the start, Kings XI Punjab bowlers did justice to their captain’s faith reducing Royal Challengers Bangalore to 22/3 in five overs.
Axar Patel dismissed Shane Watson for fourth time, Sandeep Sharma for Vishnu Vinod and Aaron picked Kedar Jadhav as Bangalore stared at a debacle.
De Villiers, however, changed gears seeing Bangalore’s plight. He along with Mandeep Singh built a resistance.
Knowing well that they had 15 more overs in front of them, they avoided taking any chance. They did hit the occasional bounadaries but relied more on singles and twos. Bangalore reached 53/3 in 10 overs, poised for a decent score with two set batsmen on crease. Their 46 runst and in 49 balls was broken in the 14th over, after a brilliant effort form wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha saw Mandeep walk back to the pavilion off Aaron.