Kings XI Punjab beat Royal Challengers Bangalore in rain-affected IPL game

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/may/13/kings-xi-punjab-defeat-bangalore-in-rain-affected-game

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Kings XI Punjab, despite already not being able to qualify for the play-offs, produced a superb all-round performance to win a 10-over game against Royal Challengers Bangalore. RCB remain well-placed to qualify but now face a fight so to do in one of the coveted top two slots, which allow two chances to reach the final.

Rain and a wet outfield meant that play did not start until 10.45pm local time, the customary raucous jukebox silenced for the benefit of local residents. Winning the toss, Virat Kohli opted to field and Kings XI Punjab’s George Bailey revealed that he would have done likewise; the shorter the game, the greater the advantage in knowing, rather than guessing, the nature of a winning total.

Mitchell Starc, the competition’s best bowler so far, opened for Bangalore – but Wriddhiman Saha, promoted up the order, struck 11 of the 14 runs that came from the over before taking a further 20 from the next. Shortly afterwards, he was caught by Mandeep Singh off the bowling of David Wiese, and though Punjab never quite recaptured the momentum, a steady diet of wickets was matched by a steady diet of boundaries. Their eventual score of 106 for six was competitive but intimidating, least of all to an order as destructive as Bangalore’s, and they looked well satisfied leaving the field between innings.

But Punjab defended it brilliantly. In the third over, Kohli dragged on to Anureet Singh for 19 just as he was finding his range and subsequently neither Chris Gayle nor AB de Villiers could find the middle of the bat with the required regularity; they managed just one six between them. Though Mandeep Singh hung around to top-score with 20 from 14 balls, no one below him managed so much as a boundary, let alone the 33 and 28 runs that were required with two and one over remaining leaving Bangalore with a score of 84 for six and allowing the home crowd to celebrate Punjab’s third win of the season.