Miller walloped eight boundaries and three sixes during his knock of 66
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
South Africa batsman David Miller blasted his way to a spectacular half-century to help the Kings XI Punjab crush the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 32 runs in Bangalore.
Miller was well supported by pace bowler Sandeep Sharma, who took three wickets.
Bangalore captain Virat Kohli would have been brooding over whether he made the right choice to bowl first as Punjab’s opening pair of Virender Sehwag and Mandeep Singh amassed a 60-run partnership before Singh was caught by Albie Morkel at mid-on off the bowling of Harshal Patel for 21.
Sehwag ended up scoring 30 runs before he was caught by Kohli at long-on off the bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal.
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell scored 25 runs before he was caught by Mitchell Starc at deep midwicket off the bowling of Chahal.
Punjab skipper George Bailey only made one run before he was caught behind off the bowling of Morkel.
Miller and Wriddhiman Saha stabilised the innings with a 54-run partnership, during which Miller brought up his half-century, before he was caught by Chahal at extra cover off the bowling of Varun Aaron.
Miller’s fantastic knock of 66 came off just 29 balls and included eight boundaries and three sixes.
Saha went on to score 17 before he was caught by AB de Villiers at long-off off the bowling of Patel.
Akshar Patel only made two runs before he was clean bowled by Starc.
Starc struck again just two balls later when he cleaned up debutant Shivam Sharma for four runs.
Thanks to Miller, Punjab finished on 198/8 off their 20 overs.
Starc, Patel and Chahal all took two wickets apiece, while Morkel and Aaron chipped in with one wicket each.
Chasing 199 to win, Bangalore lost their top six batsmen for just 76 runs.
Sandeep Sharma was responsible for taking out Chris Gayle, Pathiv Patel and Kohli, while Shivam Sharma dismissed Yuvraj Singh and Morkel and Akshar Patel claimed the wicket of Sachin Rana.
Sharma dismissed Gayle, Kohli and Patel in quick succession
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
De Villiers and Starc tried to steady the innings with their 49-run partnership, during which de Villiers registered his half-century, before he was caught by Patel off the bowling of Lakshmipathy Balaji.
De Villiers’ valiant knock of 53 came off 26 balls and included one boundary and five sixes.
De Villiers hammered five sixes during his gutsy knock of 53
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Harshal Patel only made six runs before he was caught behind off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson.
Starc went on to score 29 runs before he was caught by Miller at long-on off the bowling of Balaji.
Bangalore ended up finishing on 166/9 off their 20 overs, leaving them 32 runs short of their target.
Sandeep Sharma was the most successful bowler with three wickets, while Shivam Sharma and Balaji took two wickets apiece and Johnson and Patel claimed one wicket each.
Kohli was disappointed with his team’s performance, and said: “We did not play as a unit, that is something that has happened in the past few games. We paid the price. We could have bowled better. One or two unfortunate decisions blocked our way (with the bat). If you lose early wickets it gets difficult. We have chased close to 200 quite a few times at this ground but it does not happen every time. There is no room for complacency, might just be a blessing in disguise for us, we need to pull our socks up. We need to take more responsibility as a batting unit, things have not gone our way in the past few games, we need that bit of luck.”
Bailey was pleased to have won the match, and said: “The usual suspects with the bat [played well], outstanding start, our best Powerplay from Viru and Mandeep, late hitting from the tailenders got us to a really nice total. Sandeep has been outstanding, Shivam in his first game, bit of pressure, comes out and bowls outstandingly. For a guy who is as young as he is, he (Sandeep) comes to me and he knows what fields he wants. Hats off to our coach Sanjay Bangar. I was a bit tentative about playing as much spin here, it is a small ground. Sanjay thought the wicket was a bit slower and it paid off beautifully. Hopefully we are playing our best cricket at the back end of the tournament.”
Sandeep Sharma edged out Miller for the Man of the Match award, and said: “Having a good tournament, enjoying my bowling, Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli wickets are very important for me. We were talking in our meeting, he (Gayle) does not hit the ball going away, that was our plan. Thankful to George Bailey for showing faith in me and giving me the new ball.”