IPL KXIP vs RCB Match Report: The KL Rahul show, all the way

Before the start of the match, RCB and KXIP had a 12-12 head-to-head record against each other in IPL’s previous twelve seasons. However, since 2018, Punjab was on a 0-4 losing streak.

But this year, the Punjab coach Anil Kumble would have been delighted with way his team annihilated Kohli’s men and quickly moved on from a terrible loss in the Super Over of their first match.

Rahul ‘defeats’ Bangalore by 23 runs!

It was all over on the 16^th ball of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s innings while chasing a nearly impossible target of 207 for a win at Dubai international cricket stadium on Thursday night when captain Virat Kohli departed after making just a single run and the top order’s three wickets had gone inside 4 runs.

And when the Superman AB de Villiers got out in the 9^th over, with half the side back in the dugout for 57 runs, RCB were in a situation which is all-too-familiar to them.

Also Read: IPL 2020 KXIP vs RCB Snapshots: KXIP captain KL Rahul's century too big to handle for RCB

Kohli’s team had previously lost four matches with a margin of over 90 runs but this 97-run loss after a fine winning start in IPL 2020 must have been the most shocking of all. They were blown away in just 17 overs and managed to score only 109 runs. In contrast, Kings XI Punjab skipper KL Rahul alone made 132 runs!

Rahul- Naam toh suna hi hoga!

Someone who holds the record of the fastest fifty in IPL (merely 14 balls), Rahul’s is name is often taken as the most versatile batsman of the new generation.

The original Bangalore boy who once was part of the RCB chose to bat in a way Rohit Sharma does in white ball cricket. Taking his time, Rahul scored only 42 runs off the first 30 balls he faced in the beginning. And then he went berserk in the next 20 balls where he scored 62 runs!

Fortune favoured the brave once again as Kohli dropped him not once but twice (on 83 and 89)! He carried his bat in the innings for a spectacular 132* off 69 balls which can be separated in two contrasting halves.

Except for just one six that was hit in the first 40 balls of his innings, the rest of the sixes came in the last 29 balls. It was a breathtaking display of a batsman who was so sure of his prowess even though he tried to play it down himself after the match.

“I have actually been not so confident. I had a chat with Maxi (Glenn Maxwell) yesterday, (and) he said how are you feeling, I said that I am not feeling completely in control of my batting, he said you must be joking, you are hitting really well. Quite honestly I was nervous but I knew if I spend time in the middle, hit a few balls from the middle of bat, it will all settle down,” said the Punjab skipper after the massive win which has taken them at the top of the league table.

Along the way, Rahul also crossed some fine milestones like the fastest Indian to 2,000 IPL runs, the highest IPL score by an Indian and the best IPL score by a captain.

A night of horror and error for Kohli

If dropping Rahul twice in the innings was not enough, captain Kohli’s failure with the bat seems to suggest that his mind was completely cluttered after the Rahul assault.

“I have to stand in front and take the brunt of it, not the best day in the office, couple of important chances of KL when he was set and that cost us 35-40 runs at a later stage. Maybe if we restricted them to 180 we wouldn't have been under pressure from ball one of the chase,” admitted the RCB skipper in his post match presentation chat.

All the tactical errors as RCB captain over the years came to fore. Kohli’s faux pas regarding his choice of death over bowlers baffled the experts. Despite all his pedigree, Dale Steyn is not an ideal death bowler in the IPL and so is Shivam Dube at this stage of his career with all his promise as a bowler. Unsurprisingly, the duo bowled three of the last four overs where Punjab looted 74 runs.

Admittedly, his task was not easier as Umesh Yadav continues to disappoint again and again but it still doesn’t explain that how come someone like Washington Sundar bowled just two overs despite being the most economical after Yuzvendra Chahal.

The Shami-Cottrell show

Punjab’s new ball pair of Mohammed Shami and Sheldon Cottrell continued their good work from the first match. Leg-spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Murugan Ashwin may have taken six wickets together but the fast bowlers’ three wickets for just 31 runs in 6 overs was a crucial blow to RCB’s hopes of any miracle. “I have the responsibility to deliver with the new ball, help my bowling partners and try to hit the right areas,” said Shami after grabbing the purple cap of this season.

The resounding defeat may have caused more damage than it is apparent right now for RCB. A net run rate of -2.175 may come back to haunt them later in the tournament like earlier occasions.

(Vimal Kumar is a senior sports journalist who has covered multiple cricket world cups and Rio Olympics in the last two decades. Vimal is also the author of Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century and The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide.)

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