By BV Swagath
Hosts Kings XI Punjab pulled off an incredible upset over RCB at Mohali by chasing down a high target of 191 with two full overs to spare. This was after the homeside were going nowhere at 95 for 4 in 13 overs! David Miller showed the cricketing world his tremendous hitting ability to finish the match off in style with a century.
It was perhaps one ball that changed the complexion of the entire match. It was an over in which R Vinay Kumar was getting the stick from Miller and Skipper Virat Kohli got annoyed and was seen taking his frustration on the bowler. The next ball, Vinay Kumar managed to induce a miscued slog from Miller which went high up in the sky and coming down towards extra covers where Kohli dropped one of the easiest ever catches! After that miss, the match was stolen away completely by Miller in the company of R Satish. Kings XI smashed as many as 99 runs in the final five overs on their way to a great victory.
Miller with three more runs for a win went onto smash a six to jump from 95 to a century! The South African left-hander easily produced the best knock of this IPL with an unbeaten 101 in just the 38 balls with 8 fours and 7 sixes! R Satish supported him with an unbeaten 27 from 18 balls to help Kings XI to a 6-wicket win.
RCB despite this defeat are sitting pretty in the 2nd position with 5 losses in 12 games. Kings XI Punjab on the other hand have only collected their fifth win in 11 matches. Earlier in the evening, RCB were powered to a high total of 190 for 3. Chris Gayle laid the impetus with a 33-ball 61 with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Cheteshwar Pujara who opened the innings with Gayle scored an impressive 51 from 48 balls with 8 fours although he could have got the runs at a faster rate.
The real spark to the RCB innings came towards the end from AB de Villiers who scored an unbeaten cameo of 38 from 19 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Toss and Teams: Hosts Kings XI Punjab have won the toss and asked Royal Challengers Bangalore to bat first at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Cheteshwar Pujara gets to play his first game of the IPL after recovering from his injury. Also Ravi Rampaul comes in for Muralitharan in the RCB team. For Kings XI, the little known Michael Nisser from Australia gets his first game in the place of Pomersbach.
Kings XI Punjab: Shaun Marsh, Mandeep Singh, David Hussey (C), David Miller, Gurkeerat Singh (WK), Rajagopal Sathish, Michael Neser, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, Manpreet Gony, Parvinder Awana
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Saurabh Tiwary, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (C), AB de Villiers, Moises Henriques, Cheteshwar Pujara, Arun Karthik (WK), Vinay Kumar, Ravi Rampaul, Murali Kartik, RP Singh
