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Pune: The image of Virat Kohli walking back to the dugout and shaking his head could very well sum up Royal Challengers Bangalore’s IPL season.
They have been a pale reflection of the team that thrashed opposition at will last season and reached the final. This season, their famed batting lineup has failed miserably.
None in the top order have delivered and no one in the middle order has pitched in either. That was the theme once again in Pune when they could only muster 96/9 in the allotted overs and suffered a demoralising 61 run defeat.
Such as RCB’s dismal show with the bat once again, none of the other batsmen were in double digits and the highest partnership was just 21 runs.
However, considering their 49 run show against Kolkata Knight Riders a few days back, this would feel like an improvement.
For RPS, Imran Tahir picked up three wickets while Lockie Ferguson, man of the match, took two wickets.
Earlier in the first innings, Kohli won the toss and put Pune to bat. In sharp contrast to RCB, RPS were more solid and didn’t lose the plot despite a slow start.
Rahul Tripathi continued his consistent batting show with 37 runs from 28 balls and made the most of Kohli dropping him early on.
In the middle, Steve Smith (45) played partnership role with Tripathi and then with Manoj Tiwary.
Tiwary and MS Dhoni provided RPS with a late flourish to help the team to a competitive total of 157/3. The last five overs producing 46 runs.
The win helped RPS keep at it in their quest to starve off the challenge of others to contest the playoffs.
It helped their net run rate significantly too to bag a 61 run win despite scoring 157 runs.
Brief scores
Rising Pune Supergiant - 157 for 3 (Smith 45, Tiwary 44*, Tripathi 37)
Royal Challengers Bangalore - 96 for 9 (Kohli 55, Tahir 3-18, Ferguson 2-7)
Result - Rising Pune Supergiant won by 61 runs
