Glenn Maxwell firing fifty was followed by a spirited bowling performance by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by 6 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
With this win, RCB has qualified for the playoffs of IPL 2021 while for PBKS, qualification is out of their hands if KKR beat SRH later in the evening, as the men in purple and gold will hold the keys. For RCB, Yuzvendra Chahal scalped two wickets while Shahbaz Ahmed and George Garton returned with one piece. Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul scored innings of 57 and 39 respectively for Punjab.
Chasing the target of 165, Punjab Kings had a formidable start as their openers amassed 49 runs after the first powerplay. With delightful strokeplay, the stand between KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal soon reached 50 as PBKS reached 81/0 at the halfway mark in the innings.
In the 11th over of the match, Shahbaz Ahmed struck to gave RCB their first breakthrough. PBKS captain KL Rahul walked back after edging to short third. He scored 39 off 35 balls.
Mayank Agarwal reached his half-century in the 13th over of the match. In the same over Yuzvendra Chahal removed Nicholas Pooran. Chahal struck again in the 16th over as he dismissed Mayank Agarwal and Sarfaraz Khan to give RCB an upper hand in the contest. Agarwal walked back after scoring 57 off 42 balls.
Wickets kept falling for PBKS as dangerous-looking Aiden Markram was removed by George Garton in the 17th over. Shahrukh Khan was accompanied by Moises Henriques on the pitch as PBKS needed 27 runs off the final 2 overs.The duo managed to gather 8 runs in the penultimate over. With 19 needed in the last over, Shahrukh Khan got run out on the first ball of the 20th over. Moises Henriques did smash a six on the second-last ball but until then it was too late as RCB took home the two points.