Harpreet Brar accounted for the wickets of Virat Kohli, Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers in a spell for the ages.
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Punjab Kings (PBKS) emerged as giant slayers again in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as they outclassed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to secure their third victory of the season. The man who stole the show was Harpreet Brar who picked up three wickets in his four overs and conceded only 19 runs. The three wickets were massive as well. Brar ousted Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. What is even more outstanding is that he bowled Kohli and Maxwell in the same over off consecutive deliveries. This victory will be a massive boost for PBKS’ bid to qualify for the playoffs. KL Rahul’s men posted 179 runs on the board and restricted Kohli’s men to 145.
RCB’s batting order cut a hopeless figure. Skipper Virat Kohli, Harshal Patel and Rajat Patidar were the only ones who managed to score over 30 runs with two of them struggling to get bat on ball. Kohli scored 35 runs off 33 deliveries while Patidar made 31 off 30. Harshal played a quickfire cameo down the order as he made 31 runs off 13 deliveries. He was dismissed by an outstanding Ravi Bishnoi catch off a Mohammed Shami delivery.
The stars of the show were undoubtedly the PBKS bowlers. Brar picked up three wickets in his four overs for only 19 runs. Bishnoi accounted for two wickets in his spell and conceded only 17 runs. Mohammed Shami, Riley Meredith, and Chris Jordan also picked one wicket each. Meredith was not able to finish his spell following an injury concern as a Kyle Jamieson shot struck the bowler right under the knee cap in the final over of the game. Shami, who had bowled three overs in the game, finished it off.
Three brilliant individual batting displays saw PBKS reach a fighting total of 179 in their 20 overs. Opener and skipper KL Rahul blew the roof off Ahmedabad’s Motera stadium with his astounding innings in which he scored an unbeaten 91 runs off 57 deliveries. It included seven fours and five maximums. He was exceptionally supported by West Indian cricketing veteran Chris Gayle who smashed 46 runs off just 24 deliveries. The two stitched a healthy stand of 80 runs for the second wicket. PBKS seemed set to amass over 200 runs but Gayle’s dismissal was followed by yet another disappointing middle-order collapse. They went from 99/1 to 118/5. It was Harpreet Brar, whose quickfire 25 off 17 deliveries helped them reach a competitive score.
Purple Cap leader Harshal Patel was subjected to utter humiliation as he conceded 53 runs in his four overs. Of the RCB bowlers, Daniel Sams, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Kyle Jamieson picked wickets. Sams, Chahal, and Shahbaz took one wicket each for 24, 34 and 11 runs respectively. Shahbaz was only given the ball for two overs. Jamieson picked up two wickets for 32 runs in his three overs.
