RCB won the toss and asked the visitorsto bat first at Chinnaswamy Stadium.RCB had started with a loss at the season opener against CSK at Chepauk while Punjab had begun with a dominating victory against Delhi Capitals.
Mohammad Siraj came with the new ball while Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow were at the crease to open for Punjab. RCB started quietly and got an early breakthrough as Bairstow departed for just 8 runs in 6 balls and Siraj got his first wicket.
Prabhsimran Singh walked in at No. 3 for Punjab and started building innings for Punjab with well-set Shikhar Dhawan. Both were constructing innings but Maxwell got Prabhsimran Singh with a Sharp bouncer that got an edge and got caught behind and PBKS were 72/2.
Liam Livingstone walks in at No 4 but also got caught behind in a short and wide delivery of Alzarri Joseph after scoring 17 runs in 13 balls. Maxwell dismissed well-set Shikhar Dhawan in the next delivery and Dhawan went back to the pavilion after scoring 45 runs in 37 balls including 5 fours and 1 six and PBKS were 98/4.
Sam Curran and Jitesh Sharma were the two new men in the crease. Both stabilize the inning from where Shikhar had left and continue adding runs to the scoreboard. Yash Dayal breaks the partnership dismissing Curran with the bouncer. Sam Curran departs scoring 23 runs in 17 balls including 3 fours. Siraj got another in the 19th over as Jitesh Sharma departs after adding 27 runs in 20 balls including a four and 2 sixes.
ALzarri Joseph got hit for 20 runs in the ultimate over and Punjab was able to settle an average target of 177 runs losing 6 wickets in the 20 over.
The RunChase
Sam Curran started the inning with a new ball for Punjab. Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis opened for RCB with 16 runs in the first over but the opening partnership could not last long. Faf du Plessis was dismissed by his former mate Kagiso Rabad in the 3rd over and Punjab got an early breakthrough. Cameron Green walked in at No. 3 but Green added nothing much to the scoreboard as he departed for just 3 runs playing 5 balls and RCB was 47/2 after 5 overs.
Kohli was looking strong despite wickets falling from the other ends at regular intervals. Man in form Rajat Patidar joins Virat at the crease to construct the inning and to establish themselves in the run chase. Rajat Patidar played a slow inning in the game struggling to hit big shots and got dismissed after playing 18 deliveries and scoring 18 runs. RCB was 86/3 in the mid-11th over after Patidar’s dismissal.
The dangerous man Glenn Maxwell walked in but hurried to the pavilion adding just 3 odd runs for RCB. Tension peaked at the RCB’s dugout after the wicket kept on falling from the other end even though Kohli was leading the run chase for Bengaluru. Kohli scored magnificently 50 runs in just 31 balls. Anuj Rawat joined the run-chase when the run rate had already exceeded 10 per over.
RCB was slowly moving to grab their first victory but unfortunately, Kohli got caught by Harpreet Brar in the 16th over bowled by Harshal Patel. Kohli Dismissal led the Chinnaswamy in silence. Anuj Rawat also departed in the next over as Sam Curran got his first wicket. RCB was still in the run chase with 2 new men Dinesh Kartik and Impact player Mahipal Lomror in the crease and needed 47 runs in 22 balls.
Both Kartik and Lomror accelerated in the death over and hit 13 runs each in the 18th and 19th over. As a result, RCB needed 10 runs off the final over. Dinesh Kartik strike hits 1st ball for six and the second ball went wide Kartik finished the game in style hitting a boundary in the 3rd ball and chasing the target in just 19.3 registering 1st victory for RCB in the season.
RCB grabbed 2 points in the points table defeating Punjab Kings at their home ground registering 1st win of the season with fiery knock of Dinesh Kaartik and Mahipal Lomrorat the end.
Virat Kohli was the Man of the Match for his brilliant knock of 77 runs in 49 deliveries with 11 fours and 2 sixes for the side.