IPL: RCB post 174/4 after Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis' fifties
Mohali, Apr 20: Faf du Plessis plundered 84 off 56 balls despite a rib injury and shared a 137-run stand with opening partner Virat Kohli before Punjab Kings fought back to limit Royal Challengers Bangalore to 174 for four in the IPL here on Thursday.
At 91 for no loss in 10 overs, RCB were on course for 200 plus total but Punjab bowled well in the middle and death overs to restrict the opposition, who could only manage 83 runs off the last 60 balls.
Sam Curran and Rahul Chahar did not take wickets but conceded less than seven runs per over.
With regular skipper du Plessis turning up only as an 'Impact Player', Kohli came out for the toss as stand-in captain.
Du Plessis hammered five sixes and as many fours in his belligerent knock. Like he often does, the former South Africa skipper was not afraid to show his stumps to the spinners to free his arms for the big shots.
Kohli made 59 off 47 balls though the first half of his innings was more fluent.
It was the fourth fifty plus score for the RCB openers this season, highlighting their consistency.
RCB would be a tad disappointment with the total they ended up with after a flying start from du Plessis and Kohli, who fired their team to 59 for no loss in the powerplay.
Arshdeep Singh and Curran employed the short-ball tactic against du Plessis and Kohli with the new ball but it did not work.
The Indian star began with his trademark cover drive off spinner Harpreet Brar before pulling a short ball from Arshdeep over short fine leg for another four in the third over.
Du Plessis got going with a couple of sixes off Brar, who opened the bowling alongside Arshdeep.
The South African made room for a massive straight six over Brar's head and followed it up with another one wide of long on. However, his best of the lot was the straight six off pacer Nathan Ellis as he stood sill to slap it over the bowler's head.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
