Virat Kohli’s breakneck 92 off 47, plus his spectacular direct hit to run Shabank Singh out, were the basis of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB’s) fourth consecutive win, this time against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala. The result kept RCB’s hopes of making the IPL 2024 playoffs alive  if only just, but knocked PBKS out of contention.

RCB batted first and blasted their way to 241 for 7, with Rajat Patidar smashing 55 off 23, and Cameron Green hitting 46 off 27. Both had productive partnerships with Kohli, worth 76 off 32 and 92 off 46 respectively.

In response, PBKS started strong, but RCB’s spinners – Karn Sharma and Swapnil Singh – were effective through the early middle overs, dismissing Rilee Rossouw in the ninth, Jitesh Sharma in the 11th, and Liam Livingstone in the 12th.

With the required rate now high above the run rate, it was curtains for PBKS. They ended 181 all out after 17 overs.

Kohli anyway started the match as the IPL’s highest run-scorer. But having been reprieved on zero, he went on to play one of his best innings of a stellar season, finding boundaries through the covers, through midwicket, and down the ground – his footwork often immaculate.

Though he opened the batting, he didn’t have a lot of the strike, facing only 14 balls in the powerplay. But before long he was striking at well over 150, as he found capable partners in Patidar (who was the more aggressive partner in their stand), and then Green.

It was a vintage Kohli innings, full of powerful wristy flicks and hard running, though towards the end he also got his six-hitting game going, finishing with six maximums overall.

He seemed poised to make his second triple-figure score of the season, but sliced a wide Arshdeep Singh delivery and was caught at deep cover in the 18th over.

Kohli’s wild gesticulations, it turns out, are not the only expenditure of his energy on the field.

Fourth ball of the 14th over into the PBKS innings, they needed 92 runs off 39 balls, and as long as Shashank was at the crease, they had an outside chance. But that’s when Sam Curran dropped one towards midwicket and called for two, and that was when Kohli took off from deep midwicket, speeding towards the ball, swooping on it, and skidding it mid-dive towards the one wicket he had to aim at, and found his target.

Shashank was not as committed to the run as Kohli was to this piece of fielding, and Shashank was centimetres short of his ground, not having put in a dive. He was out for 39 off 19 balls, leaving PBKS 151 for 6. They would end up losing their last five wickets for 30 runs.

Before that Kohli run out, however, legspinner Karn and left-arm spinner Swapnil had made vital strikes as well. Swapnil removed Prabhsimran Singh in the first over of the innings, before coming back in the middle overs to get Liam Livingstone tamely offer a leading edge into the covers.

Karn took two big wickets too. He first had the opposition’s best batter Rossouw caught at long-on in the ninth over, and then bowled a big, juicy legbreak that clattered into Jitesh’s stumps in the 11th over.

Although they would fall well short, PBKS did look capable of chasing down 242 at the start. They made 75 in the powerplay, thanks largely to Rossouw, who had clobbered seven fours and a six while the fielding restrictions were in place.

Rossouw continued to blast RCB’s seam bowlers in particular, motoring his way to a 21-ball half-century, before Karn eventually got him. Jonny Bairstow’s 27 off 16, and Shashank’s knock were the other serious contributors.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 241/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 92, Rajat Patidar 55, Cameron Green 46; Harshal Patel 3-38, Vidwath Kaverappa 2-36, Arshdeep Singh 1-41, Sam Curran 1-50, ) beat  Punjab Kings 181 in 17 overs (Rilee Rossouw 61, Shashank Singh 37, Jonny Bairstow 27, Sam Curran 22; Mohammed Siraj 3-37, Swapnil Singh 2-28, Lockie Ferguson 2-29, Karn Sharma 2-36) by 60 runs