IPL 2025: RCB march into final after PBKS capitulate at home

Hindustan Times

4 days ago

Mullanpur: Even before the crowd could settle at the PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh, hoping to see fireworks from the home team Punjab Kings (PBKS) who were asked to bat first against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Qualifier 1, the inevitable happened.
PBKS batting collapsed in a heap in swinging conditions with only three batters managing to reach double figures. The result was a paltry 101 runs with 29 legal deliveries still to be bowled.
RCB overhauled the target with eight wickets and 10 overs to spare, the win sending RCB to their first final since 2016. While Rajat Patidar's team are only a step away from winning their first trophy, PBKS will have to toil in the Qualifier 2 on June 1.
RCB bowling trio of Suyash Sharma (3/17), Josh Hazlewood (3/21), and Yash Dayal (2/26) ran through the PBKS batting line-up and reduced them to their lowest total in the tournament on a wicket that offered some seam, bounce and also turn.
Once the in-form openers Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimran Singh, who had been instrumental in putting PBKS on the top of the table, were back in the pavilion, the hosts could not prevent the inevitable collapse as RCB bowlers struck at regular intervals.
Chasing the modest total, RCB lost Virat Kohli in the fourth over -- nicked off by Kyle Jamieson -- but fellow opener Phil Salt's unbeaten 27-ball 56 (4X6, 6X3) was enough to take them home.
Musheer Khan grabbed the second RCB wicket in the form of Mayank Aggarwal for 19 but that little to change the eventual outcome. Skipper Patidar was unbeaten on 15 as RCB ended their innings at 106/2.
PBKS would have hoped of pulling off the unthinkable, having defended 111 against KKR at the same venue earlier this season, but RCB brought out their A game to get to the target without much fuss.
Left-arm pacer Dayal got the first breakthrough for RCB removing Arya for 7 in the second over, followed by experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar sending Prabhsimran back for 18.
Josh Hazlewood then came into his own by striking a double blow that choked PBKS. He first sent back PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer for 2 and soon followed it with the wicket of Josh Inglis for 4, leaving PBKS reeling at 38/4 in 5.1 overs. The hosts managed just 48 runs in the powerplay with all their top order gone.
Dayal, meanwhile, was not done yet. The 27-year-old bagged his second wicket when he bowled Nehal Wadhera for 8 as PBKS had half their side back in dugout for 50 runs.
Any hopes of PBKS rearguard were nipped with the introduction of leg-spinner Suyash Sharma as the Impact Player. Suyash struck twice in the ninth over, first bowling Shashank Singh with a googly for 3 before getting Musheer Khan LBW for a three-ball duck.
Marcus Stoinis provided sole resistance for PBKS with his 17-ball 26 (2X4, 2X6) before Suyash foxed him with his loop. The Aussie went for a slog over mid-wicket but the ball sneaked past his swipe to disturb the stumps. Hazlewood and Romario Shepherd soon ended PBKS' misery, packing them off for a severely sub-par total.
'It is not a day to forget, but we have to go to the drawing board. We were befuddled and lost a lot of wickets,' Iyer noted after the match.
'There is something to go back and study. Not doubting my decisions in terms of planning. Outside of the ground, it was on point. We couldn't execute, cannot blame our bowlers. It was such a low total. We got to work on our batting on this wicket. In all games here, there has been variable bounce. Cannot give such reasons because we are professionals and we have to live up to it. We have lost the battle but not the war,' he added.