Mullanpur: After recording two wins in two matches, Punjab Kings (PBKS) should have been riding high on momentum and form going into their last home match at the Punjab Cricket Association Mullanpur Stadium to make it three out of three. Unfortunately, things did not pan out the way PBKS would have wanted against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Sunday game.

Dominant RCB riding on Virat Kohli (73* off 54) and Devdutt Padikkal’s (61 off 35) innings, logged an easy seven-wicket win over the hosts to record their fifth triumph of the tournament.

It was the experienced Kohli who anchored the RCB chase with an unbeaten knock while Jitesh Sharma’s six helped RCB romp home and win the game with seven balls to spare.

Unlike the last low-scoring home match in which leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s four-wicket performance stood out and guided PBKS to a win against the Kolkata Knight Riders, PBKS bowlers failed to weave the same magic to defend 157 against RCB.

Kohli’s 67th 50-plus score in the IPL, the most for any player in the IPL, held the innings together and gave full support to Padikkal who was the more aggressive out of the two in the chase.

Even though, Phil Salt was bowled by medium-pacer Arshdeep Singh (1/26) in the first over, Kohli and Padikkal made sure RCB reached the target without much fuss. The duo added 103 runs to help their team chase down the target.

Chahal (1/36) struggled as Kohli’s brilliance came to the fore. Left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar (1/27) scalped Padikkal’s wicket in the 13th over but Kohli and captain Rajat Patidar (12) gelled well for RCB.

Chahal did manage to remove Patidar in the 17th, bringing Sharma at the crease, but by then, the damage was done. RCB made 159/3 in 18.5 overs in reply to PBKS 157/6 in 20 overs.

After the match, Player of the match Kohli said: “We set ourselves up nicely for the chase. Dev can play around me, maybe Rajat can play around me. There is always a temptation to keep going the same way. First two games we had some learnings, and the last game was a shortened game. We know in a run chase in T20 cricket, one partnership is enough. If need be, I can accelerate.”

He remarked, "This auction was highly successful for us. We secured the team we desired, and it is coming together well, which has been lacking in previous seasons. The intensity and competitiveness on the field are evident."

Earlier, PBKS had a strong beginning as openers Priyansh Arya (22) and Prabhsimran Singh (33) amassed 61 runs during the Powerplay. However, the situation shifted when Krunal Pandya (2/25) dismissed both openers.

PBKS struggled to recover from this setback and could not accelerate as they had hoped.

Shreyas Iyer had a disappointing performance, contributing only six runs. Josh Inglis managed to score a brisk 29 off 17 balls, while Shashank Singh provided late support with an unbeaten 31 off 33. Spinner Suyash Sharma also excelled with figures of 2/26. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0/26) and Josh Hazlewood (0/39) bowled effectively, particularly in the death overs, limiting the hosts to a total of 157 runs.

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