In their return leg in Mullanpur, RCB made a huge statement after losing to PBKS by five wickets in their previous encounter. PBKS endured a huge batting collapse, which was after Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh gave the team a decent start after being asked to bat first. However, the momentum derailed once Krunal Pandya was introduced in the attack. The all-rounder struck in consecutive overs, following which PBKS were unable to mount a middle-overs defense.
With Krunal taking two wickets and Suyash Sharma following suit, the RCB bowlers restricted PBKS to 157/6 in 20 overs. Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar also played a big role in the death overs as the pair conceded only 28 runs off the final four overs.
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The team, which had already benched Glenn Maxwell, were in need of a perfect rescue act by his countryman Marcus Stoinis, but the Aussie departed for 1(2).
Stoinis hasn't been able to justify his price tag and has been under pressure to perform. He was also abruptly benched for the most recent KKR game. Photos of a distraught Stoinis hearing the news from head coach Ricky Ponting went viral on social media.
Former cricketer Ambati Rayudu believed that the team culture might be the cause behind Stoinis' axing and PBKS' collapse. Rayudu also attributed his poor batting performance and drew attention towards the management.
“I think they are just not getting the balance right in terms of their intent and also no doubt, Krunal and Suyash bowled really well. But you would expect someone like Stoinis to pick a googly after all these years in international cricket. But that is something you don’t see often with top cricketers missing googlies. Maybe he is really not in the zone. Maybe he is upset with something that is going around in the team, or himself, or his batting position,” said Rayudu while speaking on Star Sports.
PBKS had acquired the services of the all-rounder for Rs 11 crores at the mega-auction held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last year.
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