Bob du Plessis and Anuj Rawat were the first openers in the RCB squad. The score was brisk at pace as both played aggressively from the start.
In this situation when Anuj Rawat played with 21 runs off 20 balls, Rahul Sahar became the bolt in bowling. Next up with Du Plessis, the goalie formed a partnership. As the two continued to show action, the pressure on the Punjab team increased again. In particular, Odeon Smith threw in the 13th over and Harpreet Brow in the 14th over for 23, 21.
Du Plessis was considered to be definitely hitting a hundred as he was playing past 80+ runs. In this situation, Arshdeep Singh gave a catch to Shah Rukh Khan in the 17.1st over and Du Plessis was dismissed for 88 (57). With the next goalie, Dinesh Karthik formed a partnership. Dinesh Karthik for his part also started to accumulate runs by beating Kattadi. In the end, the goalie added 41 (29) and Dinesh Karthik 32 (14). The RCB team was unbeaten on 205/2 at the end of 20 overs.
Punjab innings:
Mayank Agarwal (32) and Shikhar Dhawan (43) were the openers for the Punjab Kings. Following this, One Town player Panuka Rajapaksa played immensely and added 43 off 22 balls to put pressure on the RCB. Thus, there was a stir in the game.
Following this Anuj Rawat became the Golden Duck and the competition started to turn to the RCB side. However, Livingston, who came on the next field, hit two sixes and brought Punjab into the game. Thus, the last 5 overs to score 50 runs. To make matters worse, young bowler Akash Deep bowled Rawat for 19 (10).
Shah Rukh Khan’s 24 (20) and Odeon Smith’s 25 (8) were the next batsmen to make an impact as Punjab scored 208/5 in 19 overs.
It is noteworthy that the RCB team has scored similarly big scores in the past and suffered a series of defeats.