PBKS were defeated by RCB at their home ground, Mullanpur. RCB continues its winning juggernaut in away games after winning 5 matches. RCB also took revenge by defeating PBKS, as on 18th April, PBKS had outclassed RCB at their home ground. Let’s look at the reasons for PBKS’s below-par performance against RCB
Poor shot selection by PBKS’ batters
PBKS batters got a start, but none of them could convert it into a big score. They scored 62 runs in the powerplay. The wicket was a bit dry, and the ball was gripping well. Scoring runs in the old ball was not easy. They lost wickets at crucial moments and couldn’t build partnerships. They went from 62/1 in 6 overs to 76/4 in 9 overs
Their middle order got exposed today. They struggle a lot, as Shreyas Iyer (6 runs in 10 balls) failed to get a start. Josh Inglis had a start but tried to take on Suyash Sharma at the wrong time and lost his wicket . Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen put up a fight at the end to post a decent total for PBKS.
RCB’s impressive death bowling
Shashank Singh and Marco Jansen couldn’t accelerate much in the death overs and fell short of 20 runs. The reason behind this was Bhuvaeshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood. They clicked perfect Yorkers in the last 4 overs.. They both gave just 28 runs in the last 4 overs.
PBKS’ batters looked as if they ran out of ideas to tackle the yorkers. Shashak Singh (31 runs in 33 balls) & Marco Jansen (25 in 20 balls) tried to be deep in the crease and play a lofted shot, but that wasn’t productive most of the time. It seemed as if the yorker machine was brought onto the ground in the death overs, as only 2 boundaries were scored in that phase of 16-20 overs.
Virat Kohli’s Masterclass
Virat Kohli read the pitch well in the first innings. Since the target of 158 wasn’t that big, he held one end and anchored the innings. Because of that, Devdutt Padikkal got the freedom to attack the bowlers in the middle overs. Virat hit boundaries at crucial moments to keep up the strike rate and put pressure on the bowlers.
Virat Kohli’s anchor knock of 73 runs in 54 balls laid the foundation for the run chase. Devdutt Padikkal silenced all the critics who were questioning his presence in the squad. Padikkal’s fiery knock of 61 runs in 35 balls brought back the much-needed flair to RCB’s batting lineup as there wasn’t much pressure on the rest of the batters.
Also Read:Â PBKS vs RCB: RCB’s Gigantic Win Over RCB Records A Lot Of Records