RCB stick to familiar ways

Batsmen falter again as Bengaluru side bows to Kings XI Punjab by 19 runs

Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen once again committed harakiri as their woeful IPL-10 campaign continued unabated here against the Kings XI Punjab on Friday.

Despite the Royal Challengers being the first team to miss the bus for the play-offs, fans flocked the Chinnaswamy Stadium in hope that their team salvages some pride. Halfway through the contest against the Kings XI, it looked like RCB would give the packed gathering something to cheer about when they reduced the visitors to a below-par 138/7.

However, like they've done so repeatedly in the tournament, the star-studded batting line-up failed to deliver, crashing to 119 all out to suffer a painful 19-run defeat. While RCB now look like claiming the dreaded wooden spoon with just 5 points from 12 games, Kings XI kept their play-offs hopes alive, staying on fifth position with 10 points from 10 games.

Possibly perplexed by the Kings XI’s innings where none of their batsman, barring Axar Patel, failed to get going on a slow wicket where shot-making was very difficult, the Royal Challengers tried to go all-out from the word go and fell prey to their nervousness.

The out of sorts Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and A B de Villiers all departed in quick succession, the trio were guilty of attempting the outrageous when caution mixed with aggression was the need. All three were victims of Sandeep Sharma, the opening pace bowler setting the match up brilliantly for Kings XI with a match-winning spell of 4-0-22-3.
Mandeep Singh offered some hope with a fighting 46 (40b, 5x4, 2x6) but once Glenn Maxwell castled him, the others failed to get the job done. 

Earlier, RCB bowlers produced another disciplined show to restrict the Kings XI to a below-par score. Opening pace bowlers Aniket Choudhary, who claimed the prized wicket of Hashim Amla in the fifth ball of the innings, and S Arvind kept things really tight at the start while spinners Samuel Badree, Pawan Negi and Yuzvendra Chahal read the wicket well and bowled slower through the air to frustrate the visiting batsmen.

Struggling to rotate strike on a sluggish wicket, the Kings XI batsmen had no option but to attempt the big stroke frequently in a bid to up the ante but all those efforts resulted in their doom. Martin Guptill, Shaun Marsh, Manan Vohra and Glenn Maxwell — all with the potential to explode — just couldn't get their timing right and perished softly.

At the end of the Power Play, Kings XI had accumulated just 35/2 while after 10 overs they were stuttering at 55/3. Seemingly headed for a very low score in the midst of some parsimonious bowling, Kings XI found their hero in Axar Patel (38 not out, 17b, 3x4, 2x6).
The spinning all-rounder, who has dished out some destructive cameos in the past, gave the Kings XI innings the lift it needed with some lusty hitting down the order. Choosing the right deliveries to go big rather then swinging at everything, Axar took a special liking to Shane Watson whom he carted for 19 runs in the final over which gave them the much-needed momentum.

Scoreboard
KINGS XI PUNJAB: Hashim Amla c Jadhav b Choudhary 1 (3b), Martin Guptill c Negi b Arvind 9 (10b, 1x4), Shaun Marsh c Mandeep b Negi 20 (17b, 3x4), Manan Vohra c de Villiers b Chahal 25 (28b, 1x4, 1x6), Wriddhiman Saha b Watson 21 (25b, 1x4), Glenn Maxwell c Badree b Chahal 6 (11b, 1x4), Axar Patel (not out) 38 (17b, 3x4, 2x6), Mohit Sharma c Jadhav b Choudhary 6 (4b, 1x4), Varun Aaron (not out) 0 (5b). Extras (B-8, LB-1, W-3) 12. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 138.
Fall of wickets: 1-2 (Amla), 2-18 (Guptill), 3-39 (Marsh), 4-61 (Vohra), 5-78 (Maxwell), 6-112 (Saha), 7-119 (Mohit).
Bowling: Aniket Choudhary 4-1-17-2, S Arvind 2-0-13-1, Shane Watson 4-0-43-1 (w-1), Samuel Badree 3-0-14-0, Pawan Negi 3-0-21-1, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-21-2 (w-2).
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Mandeep Singh b Maxwell 46 (40b, 5x4, 2x6), Chris Gayle c Guptill b Sandeep 0 (3b), Virat Kohli b Sandeep 6 (6b, 1x4), A B de Villiers c Saha b Sandeep 10 (6b, 1x4, 1x6), Kedar Jadhav c Axar b Mohit 6 (6b, 1x4), Shane Watson c Saha b Axar 3 (6b), Pawan Negi c Saha b Axar 21 (23b, 2x4), S Arvind lbw Maxwell 4 (6b), Samuel Badree b Axar 8 (9b), Aniket Choudhary c Guptill b Mohit 4 (6b), Yuzvendra Chahal (not out) 4 (4b). Extras (LB-4, W-3) 7. Total (all out, 19 overs) 119.
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Gayle), 2-23 (Kohli), 3-37 (de Villiers), 4-52 (Jadhav), 5-71 (Watson), 6-73 (Mandeep), 7-87 (Arvind), 8-111 (Negi), 9-111 (Badree).
Bowling: Sandeep Sharma 4-0-22-3, T Natarajan 1-0-15-0, Varun Aaron 4-0-28-0 (w-2), Mohit Sharma 4-0-24-2, Axar Patel 3-0-11-3, Glenn Maxwell 3-0-15-2 (w-1).