‘Kohli ki captaincy ke under toh win guarenteed he thi’ – Fans react to a great win for RCB over Punjab Kings in the IPL 2023

Today, at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali, Virat Kohli and his men took on the Punjab Kings in the IPL 2023 clash. They recently suffered a loss at the expense of Mahendra Singh’s team, the Chennai Super Kings, and wanted to turn things around.PBKS won the toss, and Sam Curran elected to field first. 

With a total of six points from six games, including three victories and three losses, with Shikhar Dhawan as their captain, PBKS is presently ranked sixth in the IPL 2023 points table. After suffering back-to-back losses to Sunrisers Hyderabad as well as Gujarat Titans, Punjab turned things around in Match 21 by defeating Lucknow Super Giants by two wickets. 

Virat Kohli scored 59 runs off 47 balls as RCB achieved 174/4 in 20 overs. Faf du Plessis smashed 84 off 56 balls whilst opening the batting with Kohli. Arshdeep Singh, Nathan Ellis, and Harpreet Brar all recorded one wicket each for PBKS’ bowling unit. Kohli struggled and was anchoring for a while but after both he and Du Plessis got out, the other batters struggled for momentum and were only able to score a handful of runs which would be crucial in the context of the game. 

How did the Punjab Kings chase pan out?

Punjab Kings started on a very poor note as Siraj and Hasaranga wreaked havoc over their top order. Siraj got two calls right with the help of stand-in captain Virat Kohli as he sent Atharva Taide and Liam Livingstone back to the pavilion for single-digit scores. Hasaranga got Matthew Short out, who was looking to take on the bowlers. 

Under the guidance of Virat Kohli, the fielding and the energy levels were on point as they were able to scalp two run-outs from improbable positions to give their team an upper hand. The pitch was suitable for the batters and the kind of depth the Punjab Kings had meant that the batters were getting a few hits and then getting out due to poor decision-making. Prabhsimran Singh was the batter who made a significant contribution as he departed after a well-made 46.

Jitesh Sharma was striking the ball well and was scoring runs freely and putting pressure on the Bangalore bowlers. He was the last hope for Punjab Kings and kept them alive in the game. Punjab needed 37 runs from the last four overs, which could be easily chased on this sort of wicket. Harshal Patel bowled a tight over in which he didn’t concede any boundaries and Siraj in the next over sent Harpreet Brar and Nathan Ellis packing.

26 runs were required from the last two overs but Harshal Patel kept his cool and got the final wicket, but the main man Siraj was the key in this excellent game. He was the main reason why Bangalore was able to win the game by 24 runs and increase their tally to six points on the IPL points table.

Fans react to a thrilling win for Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Punjab Kings: –