MOHALI – A captain’s knock by Murali Vijay went in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore snatched a nail-biting one-run win over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League here Monday.
Chasing a target of 176, Punjab was cruising along with Vijay smashing 89 off 57 balls but Chris Jordan managed to hold his nerves as he gave away 15 runs in the final over in which the home team needed 17 runs to win. The final scorecard read 174 for four.
Needing 4 off the last delivery, Marcus Stoinis (34 off 22 balls) could take only two as Virat Kohli was delirious in joy the moment match finished.
The win takes Bangalore to sixth spot with 8 points from 9 games as it still has a chance of qualifying for the play-offs while Punjab with six points from 10 games looks all but out of the tournament.
The last four overs saw Punjab requiring 40 runs with Vijay looking in great touch before tragedy struck. It was old warhorse Watson (2-22), who delivered the needful as he dug in a short one and Vijay went for the pull. He could not connect it as Yuzvendra Chahal took a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket boundary. He hit 12 boundaries and a six. The match just slipped away despite Stoinis’ cameo.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 for 6 (De Villiers 64, Rahul 42; Cariappa 2-16) beat Kings XI Punjab 174 for 4 (Vijay 89, Stoinis 34 not out; Watson 2-22) by one run. ‑ Agencies
