Kings overcome royal challenge

Punjab Kings produced an inch-perfect bowling effort, the cornerstone of their five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in a truncated IPL match here on Friday.

Tim David (50 not out off 26 balls) scored well over fifty per cent of RCB’s woefully inadequate 95/9 after an evening round of rain forced the match to start at 9.45pm in a 14 overs per side avatar.

Punjab Kings had to go through mild scares initially but went past the line in 12.1 overs with a score of 98/5, also prolonging RCB’s wait for their first win at home this season.

Kings’ hard-hitting openers Priyansh Arya, the latest IPL sensation, and Prabhsimran Singh were not precisely comfortable on a pitch that offered considerable bounce to the pacers.

Arya mistimed a swipe off Josh Hazlewood (3/14) to David. Prabhsimran fell to Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Kings were jolted a bit when captain Shreyas Iyer and Josh Inglis walked back, both falling to Hazlewood.

At 53/4, they were slipping to a dangerous territory but found a calm soldier in Nehal Wadhera. The left-handed Wadhera (33 not out off 19 balls) played a big hand as Punjab Kings eventually crossed the line, swelling their tally to 10 points.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 95/9 in 14 overs (David 50*; Jansen 2/10, Chahal 2/11, Arshdeep 2/23); Punjab Kings: 98/5 in 12.1 overs (Wadhera 33*; Hazlewood 3/14).