IPL 2018: RCB VS KXIP: 5 reasons why Kings XI Punjab lost

The Royal Challengers tamed the Lions in today's encounter

The eighth match of IPL 2018 was a clash between the fan favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Ravichandran Ashwin led Kings XI Punjab at the Chinnaswamy stadium.

Virat Kohli won the toss and invited Punjab to bat. KXIP got off to an excellent start as K.L Rahul continued his rich vein of form.

However, a triple wicket over from Umesh Yadav turned the tide completely. Thereafter, Punjab kept losing wickets at regular intervals and was bundled out for 155.

In reply, RCB got off to a bad start as they lost McCullum and Kohli with just 33 runs on the board.

However, a responsible innings by AB De Villiers got them home at the end. Let us have a look at the five reasons why the Kings XI Punjab lost the contest.

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#1 Vidarbha Express on fire

Yadav was on song to wreck the KXIP innings

Umesh Yadav fondly known as the Vidarbha Express has gone off the radar of the Indian team in the recent past.

His record in the IPL has also not been very impressive as he tends to leak runs. However, in this season Yadav has ticked all the right boxes.

Today, he was brilliant upfront, accounting for three crucial wickets. First, he dismissed Mayank Agarwal, who could only edge a full delivery to Quinton De Kock.

On the very next ball, he beat Aaron Finch for pace and trapped him right in front of the wickets.

Then, on the last ball of his over, he castled Yuvraj Singh, who again was beaten for pace. With performances like these, Yadav can hope to win back his spot in the Indian team.

#2 Middle order caves in

Yuvraj is looking like a shadow of his former self

Punjab’s innings began well with the opening duo scoring 32 runs off the first three overs. However, things went all downhill from there as Yadav picked up three wickets in the very next over.

Some recovery work was done by the local duo of Rahul and Nair but once both of them fell, there was no one to take control of the innings.

Yuvraj, who has looked a shadow of himself, didn’t trouble the scorers much and departed early in the innings.

Marcus Stoinis after having deposited Washington Sundar for a six tried to repeat the feat and was out stumped off the next ball.

Axar Patel also could not do much of note and was trapped in front of the wicket to Khejroliya.

Punjab’s fans would hope that this was just one off occasion and the middle order can come to the party in future.

#3 South Africans to the rescue

De Villiers and De Kock's partnership took the game away from Punjab

RCB’s innings got off to a bad start as they lost both McCullum and Kohli within the first six overs.

However, the “Proteas” show began thereafter as both De Kock and De Villiers batted with ease, suppressing any threat posed by Punjab’s bowlers.

Both pushed the singles around and let loose on the bad balls. De Kock, in particular, was very severe on anything too full or too short.

His quick use of the feet neglected any spin on offer from the surface.

The right-hand and left-hand combo made it difficult for Punjab’s bowlers to adjust their lines and lengths. Their 54-run partnership brought RCB back into the game

#4 De Villiers keeps his cool

De Villiers showed great responsibility in the run-chase

De Villiers showcased again why he is rated so highly in world cricket. Coming in to bat in a difficult situation, the South African pushed the singles around in the beginning.

Knowing that the middle order of RCB is highly inexperienced, De Villiers showed great responsibility by curbing his instincts to play the big shots.

It was only in the 17th over, he opened his arms. Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who had an excellent game till then, was smashed for two back-to-back sixes to ease the nerves in RCB’s dugout.

Although he was dismissed in the penultimate over, his knock of 57 had virtually sealed the game by then.

#5 Punjab’s pacers disappoint

Punjab bowlers failed to create an impact in today's match

Earlier in the game, Yadav wreaked havoc on Punjab’s batting by his blistering pace. Hence, everyone expected the likes of Mohit Sharma and Andrew Tye to challenge RCB’s batsmen.

However, Punjab’s fast bowlers had an off day as they failed to pick up crucial wickets at the top.

Sharma, in particular, was very disappointing as he leaked runs, going for 37 runs off his first three overs. He does not have the pace to trouble batsmen with his bouncers and his back of the hand slower delivery is easily picked by the batsmen these days.

Tye tried to make up by bowling a tight penultimate over but it was too late in the day as the game was firmly within RCB’s reach by then.

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