3 positives for PBKS to take away from defeat against RCB

The Punjab Kings (PBKS) were defeated by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 24 runs at Mohali. RCB moved up to the fifth place in the league with this victory, while PBKS fell to seventh.

After 20 overs of batting on a difficult pitch, RCB managed a respectable score of 174/4. Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, who put on an opening stand of 137, were the RCB's top-scoring pair, each scoring 59 runs off 47 balls.

The next batters, though, were unable to build on the strong foundation and ultimately failed to provide the necessary acceleration at the end.

In response, PBKS got off to a terrible start and were reduced to 43/4 in 5.3 overs. Jitesh Sharma and Prabhsimran Singh kept PBKS in the game, but none of the other batters could muster any assistance.

The bowling sensation for RCB was Mohammed Siraj (4-0-21-4), whose fiery spell helped RCB win and sent him to the top of the Purple Cap standings.

However, all is not lost for the Punjab Kings. They may have lost this match but there were aspects of their performance that the Kings can take heart from. Let's look at three positives for PBKS from this game.

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#1 Prabhsimran Singh plays a fine knock

Prabhsimran Singh played a resilient knock [Image: IPL on Twitter]

In spite of the constant wickets falling around him, Prabhsimran Singh stood tall as he played a fine knock against an RCB side which was rampant with the ball. Prabhsimran (46 runs off 30 balls) struck 3 fours and 4 sixes as he took the attack to RCB, batting at a strike-rate of 153.33.

The Punjab Kings batter will want to convert his starts into big scores in the matches to come, especially in the absence of captain Shikhar Dhawan.

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#2 Jitesh Sharma continues his rich vein of form

Jitesh Sharma has been impressive this season [Image: Punjab Kings]

Jitesh Sharma (41 runs off 27 balls) gave RCB some nervous moments as he struck some lusty blows, bringing his side close to the DLS par score with the threat of rain looming around.

The young keeper-batsman has been impressive with his aggressive stroke-play in the initial leg of the competition but is yet to make a big score. The youngster stroked 2 fours and 3 sixes in his quality innings.

Jitesh eventually ran out of partners and was the final wicket to fall for PBKS. He will be looking to continue his form in the games to come.

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#3 Spin twins tie a web around the opposition

Harpreet Brar picked up the big wickets of Kohli and Du Plessis [Image: Punjab Kings]

Rahul Chahar (4-0-24-0) and Harpreet Brar (3-0-31-2) were impressive with the ball. They have been among the few bowlers who have been able to contain Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli in this competition.

Chahar, though wicketless, was very difficult to score off as he conceded at just 6 runs per over. Brar, despite being expensive overall, ended up picking the big wickets of Virat Kohli and Glenn Maxwell, which prevented RCB from getting close to 190 in the end.