END OF OVER:20 | 3 Runs 3 Wkts | RCB: 241/7 | RR: 12.05
- Swapnil Singh1 (1b)
- Harshal Patel4-0-38-3
- Rahul Chahar3-0-47-0
9.46pm Massive score, led by Virat Kohli's 92 at a strike-rate of 196. Here's Virat after his innings: "It was important to keep up my strike-rate through the innings so I wanted to take on the momentum. It was a tricky phase when Rajat got out, we got three down and the rain came in. So we needed a bit of time to settle but once Cameron and I did, I thought 'I have to go again.' The wicket was a bit two-paced, the ones pitching on the grassy ones were skidding on. Great opportunity for our bowlers to make the early inroads. (Good total batting first today) We weren't thinking about it. We thought 230+ would be a good total here. Bowlers are confident with recent successes. That was the only mindset. I thought that was a hell of an over from Harshal, otherwise we'd be 250+. (Kaverappa, the new-ball bowler) Difficult to analyse in just one game. He has some swing but when new it is tough to figure them out early. Height is there, swing is also there. Kudos to him for starting well with the new ball, but by the fourth over the swing was gone."
Don't forget Patidar's 55 either, his 4th fifty-plus score of the season. It was Patidar's take-down of Rahul Chahar and the other bowlers that actually gave RCB the early impetus. It helped RCB score their first 100 runs in 8.3 overs and their second 100 runs in 8.3 overs too. Eventually, their fourth-highest IPL score.
What do you say about the PBKS bowlers? Well, some sympathy because the rain/hail break would've made gripping the ball tough. But on the other hand, you wonder if RCB would've scored more had the rain break not slowed down their own momentum. Harshal and Kaverappa bowled well to finish with economies of under 10. Curran conceded 50 in three overs while the team's fielding tonight was ordinary.
Parvesh Chopra: "172runs in boundaries, 19x4 16x6 Wow"
C Green c Curran b Patel 46 (50m 27b 5x4 1x6) SR: 170.37
That was Harshal's 19th wicket. He has won a purple cap before with RCB.