IPL 2018, RCB vs KXIP: 5 talking points

The batting-friendly surface at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru was the venue for the eighth match of the 2018 IPL as hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) aimed to get their season up and running against the visitors Kings XI Punjab(KXIP).

Put into bat by RCB skipper Virat Kohli who won the toss, KXIP started off brightly before Umesh Yadav struck three times in an over much to the delight of the home crowd.

Though KL Rahul and Karun Nair attempted to stage a comeback, losing wickets in clusters hurt the visitors' cause as they were bundled out for a below-par score of 155.

A splendid effort by the Kings XI spinners made it an interesting contest for a period of the match but the target proved too little in the end as the hosts won the contest by four wickets.

Here are the five major talking points from today's match.

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#5 Going for the juggler too soon costs Punjab

Kings XI Punjab got IPL 2018 off to a winning note on the back of an attacking display against Delhi Daredevils on Sunday and the Ravichandran Ashwin-led side was intent on repeating the tactic yet again on Friday against RCB.

They started off well, racing to 32 off three overs before Yadav wreaked havoc picking up three wickets in the fourth over.

It was Mayank Agarwal's dismissal after he raced down the track in an attempt to hit the ball back over the bowler's head, only to find an outside edge back to the wicketkeeper.

This triggered the mini-collapse and he could have shown more composure than attempting to go after arguably RCB's best pacer.

Rahul and Nair strung together a 56-run partnership for the fourth wicket but the former played a loose shot, attempting to heave the ball over the mid-wicket boundary and only ended up top-edging the ball to short third-man.

The lack of patience from the Kings' XI batsman continued as Marcos Stoinis jumped down the track to hit Washington Sundar for a maximum only to be deceived by the ball's trajectory and was out stumped by Quinton De Kock.

The dismissals left Punjab with very little options at the back end of the innings and it was a sensible knock by the skipper which allowed the visitors to post a total in excess of 150.

#2 De Villiers keeps his cool during the run-chase

AB de Villiers played a sensible innings to see RCB through in the run chase

Despite AB De Villiers' prolific big-hitting prowess, an accusation that is levelled at the South African international often is that he fails to deliver when his side is chasing a target.

With Brendon McCullum and the chase-master Kohli heading back to the pavilion early on for RCB, the onus was on De Villiers to stand up and deliver, especially after his fellow international De Kock departed for 45 with the target still 69 runs away.

Sarfraz Khan's dismissal of the very next ball meant that the hosts were in real danger of a batting collapse but De Villiers, along with Mandeep Singh, averted that situation with a brilliant partnership.

As the senior batsman, De Villiers took control of the run-chase and reined in his aggressive instinct to keep the scoreboard ticking and ensured that his side got close to the target as much as possible.

With 41 required off the final four overs, De Villiers acted upon the necessity to go for the big shots and delivered, hitting the young Afghan spinner Mujeeb ur Rahman for two sixes that removed any doubt as to in which direction the match was heading.

#3 Rahman bamboozles Kohli

Rahman bowled an absolute beauty to get rid of Kohli

Afghanistan's 17-year-old spinner Rahman created quite an impact on his IPL debut against Delhi Daredevils picking up two wickets.

And the teenager hogged the headlines yet again on Friday with his dismissal of Kohli with an absolute beauty that is arguably the ball of the tournament so far.

The RCB skipper was looking in good touch, scoring 21 runs with four boundaries to his name when the young Afghan spinner worked out the chase-master with his intelligent bowling.

With Kohli itching to get a move on after a couple of dot balls, Rahman enticed Kohli forward with a flighted googly that pitched and spun a mile to castle his stumps.

There was very little Kohli could have done about it and the way the young rookie spinner got the better of such a highly skilled and experienced player as the Indian captain was a sight to savour for any cricket fan, irrespective of his national and franchise allegiance.

#2 Partnership-breaker Sundar halts Punjab's comeback

Washington Sundar's dismissal of Rahul proved to a decisive moment in the match

After Yadav's triple strikes brought Kings XI Punjab's quick-fire start to a screeching halt, Rahul and Nair brought their innings back on track with a 58-run partnership for the fourth wicket.

It was Sundar who broke the partnership thereby bringing RCB back into the game and it turned out to be a game changer in the end as Punjab never fully recovered from the setback of losing Rahul, three runs short of his half-century.

A late effort by KXIP skipper Ashwin helped push the side's total beyond the 150-run mark but on a good batting surface such as the one at Bengaluru, 155 always seemed like a below-par total and so it proved in the end.

If Rahul had stayed along with Nair, the match could well have slipped out of RCB's grasp but Sundar ensured otherwise with his brilliant bowling.

#1 Yadav's triple strikes jolt Kings XI Punjab

Yadav's spell was a game-changer for RCB

Rahul and Agarwal's quick-fire start was threatening to take the game away from the hosts when Yadav struck three times in his second over to derail the KXIP innings.

The first to fall was Agarwal with wicketkeeper De Kock taking a brilliant catch diving to his right while Finch followed the very next ball as the Australian unsuccessfully referred an LBW call which the ball-tracking system indicated as just kissing the top of the stumps.

Yuvraj Singh avoided falling victim on the hat-trick ball but lasted only a couple of balls more as he was done by Yadav's raw pace and couldn't get his bat down in time before the delivery crashed into the stumps after striking his pad.

The three-wicket over proved too much for Kings XI to turn around and it indeed proved the match-winning moment in the final scheme of things.