Star batter Virat Kohli hammered 77 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL 2024 match against Punjab Kings, as they secured their first win of the season. Dinesh Karthik also played a crucial role, hitting 28 runs off just 10 balls. RCB’s bowlers Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, and Glenn Maxwell, bowled brilliantly to restrict Punjab Kings to 176/6, which in itself initially seemed like a decent total.
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Kohli’s impressive performance was the highlight of the night as he led RCB’s chase. The talismanic batter, however, was given a chance early in the game. Later, despite some tense moments in the match, Karthik’s quickfire innings helped RCB secure the important win for their first two points of IPL 2024 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Kohli started off strongly, hitting boundaries early on, despite his teammates struggling to get the scoreboard moving at the other end. Despite Punjab Kings’ efforts to slow down the game, Kohli managed to reach his fifty off only 31 balls.
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Meanwhile, Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell fell quickly. but Kohli’s aggressive batting kept RCB in control. With contributions from Mahipal Lomror and Karthik, they successfully chased down the target with just four balls to spare.
Earlier, Punjab Kings struggled to build momentum in their innings, with Shashank Singh’s late cameo helping them reach 176/6. RCB’s bowlers utilised the two-bouncer rule effectively to limit Punjab Kings’ scoring in the final overs. Despite a few good individual performances, Punjab Kings couldn’t set a challenging total for RCB to chase.
