RCB face KXIP in another test of character

INDORE: Having notched up a morale-boosting win over Delhi Daredevils without some of their star players, Royal Challengers Bangalore face another test of character when they face Kings XI Punjab in their third IPL match here on Monday.

RCB began their campaign without skipper and star batsman Virat Kohli as well as another key player AB de Villiers due to injuries and lost their opening match against defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad.

RCB have also lost India batsman Lokesh Rahul for the entire tournament owing to an injury and the talented Sarfaraz Khan will most likely be unavailable for the season after hurting himself on the field during a practice match.

Kohli is almost certain to miss Monday’s match as there has not been any word on his status since the BCCI’S advisory on April 2 which said that his fitness will be assessed in the second week of this month.

Explosive South African batsman de Villiers is once again a doubtful starter for and in his absence Shane Watson would continue to lead the side as an interim captain.

Watson had marshalled his bowling resources well in RCB’S 15-run win over Delhi at home, himself taking one wicket and bowling economically by conceding just 21 runs from his quota of four overs.

Watson choked Delhi’s Amit Mishra for runs at the closing stages of the match and that contributed to RCB’S first win of the tournament. He also contributed a run-a-ball 24, the second highest score, in RCB’S total of 157 for 8.

Billy Stanlake and Yuzvendra Chahal grabbed two wickets apiece but it was Pawan Negi, picked by Watson to bowl the final over, who did the trick for RCB by dismissing Rishabh Pant, the only Delhi batsman who could have won the match for his side.

On the batting front, RCB surely missed Kohli and de Villiers though Kedar Jadhav once again showed his utility by smashing a 37-ball 69 to single-handedly take his side to 157 for 8. ‘Universe Boss’ Chris Gayle failed to get going as he scored just 6 on Saturday after his 32 in RCB’S first match.

Kings XI Punjab will come into Monday’s match with a lot of confidence after a comfortable victory over Rising Pune Supergiant in their opening match. Australian Glenn Maxwell led from the front with a quickfire 44 off just 20 balls to chase down the target with six balls to spare.

Maxwell was making his captaincy debut in the match against RPS and he would look to continue against RCB on Monday also at the Holkar Stadium which is KXIP’S second home venue along with Mohali.

Though they have retained their core group, Kings XI bought eight players in the IPL auction including well known names like Morgan, Darren Sammy, Martin Guptill and Varun Aaron. The KXIP squad has been training at the Holkar Stadium for about 10 days now and should be well-versed with the conditions. The team was dealt a blow in the run up to the IPL when senior batsman Murali Vijay was ruled due to an injury. Pacer Ishant Sharma, who went unsold in the auction, was named Vijay’s replacement. MUMBAI: Manish Pandey smashed an unbeaten 81 off 47 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders recover from a mini collapse and reach 178 for seven against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.

The visitors, asked to bat first, made a brisk start when openers Chris Lynn (32) and captain Gautam Gambhir (19) put on 44 runs in four overs before losing their way against left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya.

Krunal’s twin strike in the fifth over reduced the Knight Riders from 44 for no loss to 48 for two and then 87 for four before the innings was revived by Pandey.

The Karnataka batsman struck Mitchell Mcclenaghan for two sixes and as many fours in the last over of the innings that produced 23 runs.

It was mainly due to the Karnataka batsman s clean hitting that the total crossed the 150 mark.

But apart from his superb knock, the KKR innings lacked character.

Krunal finished with fine figures of 3 for 24 while Malinga got 2 for 36 while Mcclenaghan finished with 1 for 51.

Kolkata were off to a flyer with Lynn and Gambhir scoring freely against the mediumpacers so that after four overs the score was an impressive 44 without loss.

The duo had come into the game after powering the Knight Riders to a comprehensive tenwicket win over Gujarat Lions at Rajkot two nights ago after putting up a first wicket alltime high record of 184 with Lynn cracking a 41-ball 93.

He again looked in good touch and also smacked a short ball from Mcclenaghan over the mid-wicket area into the stands when the left arm bowler from New Zealand pitched short.

Lasith Malinga, the IPL s highest wicket taker who had missed the last IPL edition, was off target initially and gave away runs.

Jasprit Bumrah was hit for two successive fours by Gambhir while Mcclenaghan too was expensive and it was Krunal who arrested the Knight Riders progress with a double strike in the fifth over of the innings that packed off Gambhir (19) and one-down Robin Uthappa (4).

Bumrah came back into the attack and dismissed the dangerous-looking Lynn, trapping the batsman leg before when he played across the line.

The early momentum gone, Harbhajan Singh was brought into the attack after eight overs and the offie, who was surprisingly omitted for tactical reasons in the away lung-opener against Rising Pune Supergiant, kept the batsmen quiet in his first two overs.

Krunal picked up his third wicket later by inducing his Baroda teammate Yusuf Pathan to loft the ball to long off for his brother Hardik to accept a straight-forward catch which left KKR at 87 for four after 12 overs.

The 100 came up in the 14th over before Surya Yadav struck Harbhajan for two fours in the bowler s last over to spoil his figures a bit.

The well-set Pandey lofted Bumrah over long on for his second six and then hit him for a four too in the 16th over before Malinga returned to the attack and picked up Yadav with his first ball, caught by Kieron Pollard at long on, and followed it up with a similar dismissal of Chris Woakes in his final over.

But Pandey remained till the end and smacked the ball around especially in the final over bowled by Mcclenaghan.

In the day’s other match, David Warner roared back to form with a blistering 76 after rookie Afghan spinner Rashid Khan weaved a mesmerising spell as Sunrisers Hyderabad overpowered Gujarat Lions by nine wickets in an IPL encounter on Sunday. It was Rashid’s 3 for 19 that helped Sunrisers restrict Lions to a paltry 135 for 7 in 20 overs and then Warner blasted his way to an unbeaten 76 off 45 balls to finish the match in 15.3 overs. Brief Scores (Match 1) Gujarat Lions: 135/7 (Dwayne Smith 37, Jason Roy 31, Praveen Kumar 1/16) Sunrisers Hyderabad: 140/1 (David Warner 76, Moises Henriques not out 52, Rashid Khan 4-0-19-3). Brief Scores (Match 2) Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders Kolkata Knight Riders: (Manish Pandey 81, Chris Lynn 32) Mumbai Indians: Krunal Pandya: 3/24. MELBOURNE: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has tipped David Warner to be one of the contenders for IPL’S ‘Player of the Tournament’ award as he feels extra responsibility always gets the best out of the dashing opener.

Warner didn’t have a good Test tour of India and will be aiming to get back to form with some good scores for defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL.

“On the back of a slightly disappointing Test series, he’s back at a championship-winning team and he’s captain,” Ponting told a private website.

“I think he loves that responsibility. And he’s an opening batsman. You’d think the Player of the Tournament is going to be a spinner or an opening batsman. That’s the way the T20 game is right now, so I think Davey will be Player of the Tournament,” the Aussie legend said.

Ponting is confident that Warner will not be affected by his dry spell during Test series as he remains in a happy space while playing for the Sunrisers.

“You always like to go into any tournament with a lot of runs under your belt, but to me Davey is the sort of guy that it won’t bother too much. He’s back into a really comfortable environment.”

The flat tracks in India is ideal to get back into form, especially while playing white ball cricket.

“And I think the fact that it’s T20 cricket, against the white ball and on very good pitches that you get in India. I am sure he will have another good tournament,” Ponting said.

Warner had a terrific IPL last year scoring nine half-centuries in 17 games.

It takes a strong character to be an IPL captain and Ponting reckons that Warner can bring in the overseas and Indian players on same page.