PBKS is now at 6th position in the points table.
The Mayank-led side defeated RCB by 54 runs on Friday to reach the sixth position in the points table.
The playoff race has accelerated with the win of Punjab. Now both DC and PBKS have 12 digits in front of their name. DC, however, is only slightly ahead of Punjab in terms of NRR. With this defeat, RCB can now reach only 16 points.
His NRR has also been badly affected and has now reached -0.323. RCB will need to win their last game and reach 16 points but now need some green with some favorable results.
Earlier, Bairstow (66 off 29 balls) and Livingstone (70 off 42 balls) took Punjab Kings to 209 for 9 in a winning game and the scoreboard was always going to tell that RCB were 9 in 20 overs. Was limited to 155 on the wicket. ,
It was another day and another failure for Virat Kohli (20), who received a faint under-edge tickle on his glove before hitting his thigh pad and sprang up a tiny little leg Kagiso Rabada (4-0-21-3) Delivery.
Rabada didn’t deserve to play that day as he worked at good pace and hit the ideal fuller length for the better part of his spell.
Rishi Dhawan (4-0-36-2), perhaps the weakest link in Punjab’s attack, then made up for his lack of pace by hitting immaculate lengths Faf du Plessis One edge to Jitesh Sharma behind the stumps and Mahipal Lomror’s rasping pull shot was taken by Shikhar Dhawan,
Rajat Patidar (26) and Glen Maxwell (35) added 64 runs but they were never in the game and both went away early.
and when Dinesh Karthik (11) A wide yorker by Arshdeep Singh (4-0-27-1) and caught by a short third-man on the circle, RCB were out in a jiffy.
Earlier, Bairstow’s opening blitzkrieg found its perfect match in Livingstone’s finishing massacre.
While Bairstow laid the foundation with a 29-ball 66, Livingstone was as good with 70 off 42 balls as the RCB bowlers had on a day they would like to forget in a hurry.
Bairstow, who was rusty during the first leg of the tournament, was back in his element with seven sixes and four fours during a knock where he literally went hell for the leather.
Such was his dominance that by the time the six overs of the powerplay ended, Bairstow had hit seven big sixes and Shikhar Dhawan (21 off 15 balls) sprinkled salt on the wound, taking the total to eight.
Punjab Kings, who had set the stage for a blazing Powerplay opening, made six with Glenn Maxwell (1/17 in 2 overs), Josh Hazlewood (0/64 in 4 overs) and Mohammad Siraj (0/36 in 2 overs). Scored 83 runs in the over. ) is being treated with utter disdain.
While Maxwell managed to get Dhawan, both Hazlewood and Siraj were guilty of bowling short on the right bouncy pitch. Bairstow effortlessly pulled him into the stands and by the time the delivery started, he also landed in the stands.
It only helped that the boundary on one side was only 66 metres, which is a dream for any power-hitter.
Siraj’s first spell was forgettable where he hit four sixes while Hazlewood scored 22 runs in his first over. The Australian put up his worst. IPL figures ever.
However after the powerplay, once Wanindu Hasaranga (2/15 in 4 overs) and Shahbaz Ahmed (1/4 in 4 overs) started working, RCB kept the flow of runs with some tight wicket-to-wicket bowling. stopped.
Bengal left-arm spinner Shahbaz was rewarded for his hard lines as Bairstow finally made a mistake and Siraj did well to pat the skier.
After 83 runs in the first six, the scoring fell drastically as 22 came between the 7th and 10th overs.
Both Hasranga and Shahbaz bowled wide outside the off-stump and did not allow Livingstone and Agarwal to derail.
Nevertheless, the Englishman managed a few sixes to continue his good form in the competition and then pitched into the stands towards Fag end, even as Harshal Patel (4/34 in 4 overs) died. The times were extraordinary.
His fifty came off 35 balls and by the time he was dismissed, he had hit four of those 14 in Punjab’s innings.