Regular Skipper Faf du Plessis, who appeared as an Impact Player, smashed 84 off 56 with the help of five fours and as many maximums, while pacer Mohammed Siraj registered his best figures of 4/21 in (4) as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Punjab Kings (PBKS) by a 24-run margin in match No. 27 of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Mohali.
Talking about how the game unfolded, skipper Sam Curran won the toss, and PBKS elected to field first. Virat Kohli, the stand-in captain, continued his solid form as he struck 59 off 47. du Plessis continued hitting all around the park as he brought up his ninth 50-plus score against the Kings in the league. The opening pair put on a massive 137-run stand as the visitors reached a total of 174/4 in their allotted 20 overs.
Chasing 175, Atharva Taide, Liam Livingstone, Matthew Short and Shahrukh Khan all fell for single-digit scores. Prabhsimran Singh kept going as he racked up 46 off 30 with three fours and four sixes. Wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma smashed a few lower down the order as he scored 41 off just 27. But the visitors kept the pressure on the home side as they restricted them to 150. PBKS got bundled out in 18.2 overs as RCB recorded their third victory of the season. For his brilliant spell and a direct hit, Siraj grabbed the Player of the Match award.
Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from match No. 27 between Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League 2023:
603 – Virat Kohli completed 600 fours in the cash-rich league. He became the third batter after Shikhar Dhawan (730) and David Warner (608) to achieve the feat.
100 – Kohli crossed the 30-run mark for the hundredth time in the IPL. He tops the list behind Dhawan, who has 91 such scores.
3 – Faf du Plessis and Kohli registered their third 100-plus opening partnership for RCB in the league. Devdutt Padikkal and Kohli (two) and Tilakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle (two) are joint-third. The pair of Kohli and Gayle tops the chart with four such stands.
3 – Harpreet Brar dismissed Glenn Maxwell for the third time, which is the most he has got rid of any player. The spinner has got the better of Kohli twice.
302 – du Plessis has smashed 302 runs in just four innings at an average of 75.50 with four half-centuries in Mohali in the IPL.
4/21 – Mohammed Siraj scripted his best figures of 4/21 in the league. Previously, he took 4/32 against Gujarat Lions in Kanpur in 2017.
5 – du Plessis and Kohli recorded the fifth-highest opening stand of 137 for RCB. Padikkal and Kohli (181* against Rajasthan Royals in 2021), Gayle and Dilshan (167 against Pune Warriors India in 2013), du Plessis and Kohli (148 against Mumbai Indians in 2023), and Gayle and Kohli (147 against PBKS in 2016) are in the top four spots.
50 – Shahrukh Khan completed 50 maximums in T20 cricket.
9 – du Plessis has now struck the second-most 50-plus scores (nine) against PBKS. He surpassed Dhawan and Gayle’s tally of eight such scores. David Warner tops the list with 12.
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