RCB survive spirited Kings XI chase

India

Cricket365
May 17, 2016

Royal Challengers Bangalore claimed a one-run victory over Kings XI Punjab in a nailbiting IPL thriller at Mohali on Monday.

Sent in after losing the toss, RCB got off to a quickfire start as Virat Kohli and Lokesh Rahul put on 63 runs for the first wicket.

Rahul was doing most of the damage, but KC Cariappa would dismiss the wicketkeeper for 42 off 25 deliveries before getting rid of Kohli two balls later, reducing the visitors to 64/2 in the blink of an eye.

Shane Watson followed in the very next over, and suddenly RCB found themselves in a spot of bother on 67/3.

Fortunately for the men in red, they had AB de Villiers to rely on. Combining with Sachin Baby, the pair provided a vital 88-run partnership at an impressive pace to right the ship for their side.

De Villiers would eventually smack a full toss straight to Sandeep Sharma at short third man at the end of the 18th over, having made a valuable 64 at a strike rate of 182.

Baby, Travis Head and Stuart Binny would bat out the remainder of the RCB innings, helping them to a defendable total of 175/6.

Kings XI very nearly put together a successful run chase, but would end up agonisingly short of the target.

Despite losing Hashim Amla for 21, fellow opener Murali Vijay did superbly for the home side, making 89 runs from just 57 balls, and his innings was very nearly a match-winning one.

Neither Wriddhiman Saha or David Miller hung around with Vijay for long, but Marcus Stoinis provided superb support.

After Vijay was finally dismissed in the 17th over, Stoinis looked like he was going to see Kings XI home.

Needing 17 runs to win from the final over, Stoinis smacked Chris Jordan for a four and a six early in the over.

That meant they needed six from the last three, but to Jordan's credit, he kept Stoinis down to a pair of twos as the home side finished just one run short of forcing a super over.