Punjab Kings ‘catch’ Royal Challengers Bengaluru off guard

Punjab Kings players celebrate a RCB wicket in Bangalore yesterday. Pic/PTI

In a tournament marked by horror catching, Punjab Kings put on a stunning exhibition of aerial prowess at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to lord the early exchanges of a truncated contest against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

Fresh off defending the lowest total in IPL history (111) against Kolkata Knight Riders, Shreyas Iyer's men caught everything that came their way to extend RCB's misery on home turf on Friday night, until Tim David produced his maiden IPL half-century (26-ball 50 not out) at the most opportune moment to haul his team to 95 for nine in their 14 overs. Play began two and a quarter hours late owing to a steady drizzle, the match reduced to 14 overs a side, and Iyer had little hesitation in opting to chase. What followed was an ungainly procession of wickets, starting from the first over from Arshdeep Singh.

Phil Salt goes early

The left-arm quick forced Phil Salt into an ambitious pull which went miles up in the air. Wicketkeeper Josh Inglis calmly ran 25 yards towards short mid-wicket to safely pouch the skier and draw first blood.

Arshdeep wasn't done. In the next over, he elicited a similar stroke from Virat Kohli that was excellently snapped up by the towering Marco Jansen, backpedalling from mid-on. Priyansh Arya took a smart offering, running back from cover, to get rid of Liam Livingstone and Nehal Wadhera came running in from deep backward square to dismiss Jitesh Sharma on the sweep, leaving the hosts gasping at 32 for four in the sixth over.

Things didn't get any better thereafter. If Arshdeep and Xavier Bartlett had been tidy up front, leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and the strapping Jansen were outstanding in their unchanged three-over spells where each picked up two wickets.

Rajat Patidar had carried RCB's hopes but when he holed out to give Chahal his second success of the night, RCB seemed to be on a hiding to nothing.

No impact made

For some strange reason, RCB left out Devdutt Padikkal though they batted first and were forced to bring on debutant Manoj Bhandage as the Impact Player but that paid no dividend. With 34 balls still left, they slumped to 42-7, in danger of being bowled out for their lowest IPL total.