Padikkal shines in Virat’s company
Mullanpur: The stylish Devdutt Padikkal blossomed under the able guidance of peerless Virat Kohli as Royal Challengers Bengaluru exacted a sweet revenge on Punjab Kings keeping their all-away-win record intact with an easy seven-wicket victory in an IPL match here on Sunday.
Having lost the rain-curtailed home match to Punjab Kings on Friday, RCB turned the tables within less than 48 hours, chasing down a target of 158 without much ado in just 18.5 overs to enter the top four in the points table.
Southpaw Padikkal (61 off 35 balls), who is an effortless elegance when on song, scored his first IPL half-century in 22 innings while chases like these have been a cakewalk for someone of Kohli’s caliber as he played second fiddle for the better part of his innings.
He finished with a flourish, remaining unbeaten on 73 off 54 balls. The duo added 103 in 11.3 overs by playing textbook cricketing strokes with minimal risk. It was Kohli, who started off with a signature pull off Arshdeep Singh where the rolling of wrists kept the ball down and a bowler’s back-drive off Xavier Bartlett to signal his intentions.
He got an able partner in Padikkal, who hit fours and sixes in equal measure. The best of the lot from Padikkal certainly was the lofted one off Marco Jansen where the bat swing was picture perfect. Against spinners, he would use the depth of the crease to rock back and running between the wickets was fantastic as on one occasion, Kohli pushed him to sprint for four runs. Kohli farmed the strike with ease and when needed, got a boundary like once when he rode the bounce to back-cut Jansen towards backward point.
Padikkal was finally gone trying to got for a fifth six off left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar’s bowling but by then RCB had all but pocketed the game.
Once he completed his 50 off 42 balls, Kohli slashed Arshdeep deliberately behind point for a boundary. But undoubtedly the best shot was an
inside out straight six off Yuzvendra Chahal.
Earlier, RCB spinners Krunal Pandya and Suyash Sharma bowled stifling spells to restrict Punjab Kings to an under-par 157 for six in 20 overs. Left-arm spinner Krunal (2/25) and leg-spinner Suyash (2/27) were at their crafty best after Royal Challengers opted to field first on a pitch that had a hint of slowness.
In fact, the Punjab side made a good start to their innings with Priyansh Arya (22) and Prabhsimran Singh (33) adding 42 runs in 4.2 overs. There was no sign of an impending storm when Arya made his runs through those short-arm pulls and hit-through-line shots.
The left-hander was harsh on pacer Yash Dayal whom he carted the bowler for a six and two fours, and sensing the comfort of PBKS openers against quick bowlers RCB skipper Rajat Patidar turned to Pandya in the fifth over.
It proved a captaincy master-stroke as Krunal immediately fetched the desired result getting rid of Arya, who could not time the shot well of a slower delivery.
Tim David took a simple catch at the edge of the circle.
It opened the floodgates as the hosts lost three wickets in the space of 14 runs, slipping to 76 for four, and Nehal Wadhera’s horrific run out added to their misery. It reminded one of their collapse to 111 against Kolkata Knight Riders a few days back at the same venue. However, the most disappointing dismissals were that of skipper Shreyas Iyer and Josh Inglis.
