Punjab's team effort won the game | PBKS vs RCB, IPL 2022

The trio of Du Plessis, Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik had raised the curtain and entered the contest with the splendacious displays but RCB's poor bowling and fielding displays failed them terribly while Punjab's top order and finishers' team effort won the game for them.

The first part of the show started as a slow stream but finished as a rushing flood. Powerplay overs were lifeless and RCB was struggling for survival. Except for a couple of good shots, the overs were dry without runs. Out of 42 runs scored in PP overs, only 29 runs were scored by the openers and it was a very ordinary performance. But Kohli's entry after the exit of Anuj changed everything.

Initially, this couplet was trying to set the field and the rhythm to start the parade. Du Plessis tried to stabilize the ship before sailing it and it took a few overs for this pair to get along with that. In that phase of the game, they were brilliant in running between the wickets and that saved the decline of run rate.

Once they were on the mark, and everything was set, they started propelling the game forward with the fuel of runs. The 11th over started the initial process of destruction and Du Plessis initiated the launch of the missile into the enemy's camp with a massive six in Livingstone's ball and there started the dismantling of the Punjab bowling squad.

If ruthlessness is taking a human form, then it should exactly resemble Du Plessis. For the next few overs, he was exceptional and indifferent to all the bowlers. Whoever may be the bowler and whatever may be their lines and lengths, it remained immaterial for him and he was taking the monster mode. His half-century came with the stylish scoop over the fine leg, in the 41st ball he faced. Punjab Kings were in jeopardy after that.

With the beast's desire, he started hunting all around the ground for runs. His batting stance, his backlift and swing, the sound produced by the ball hitting the bat and everything looked like an echo of his intention to score more. Mayank was forced to move the fielders out of the circle to stop the balls which were fired like bullets by him towards the boundary line.

He exhausted and endangered the bowlers and their economy. Only Rahul Chahar could keep him under control. On the other side, Kohli was very much animated and was thoroughly enjoying every bit of it. Harpreet Brar's third overpaid a heavy price of 21 runs. Du Plessis before getting out in Arshdeep's ball did enough damage to the bowling side. In the first 30 balls, he scored only 17 runs but his last 27 balls fetched 71 runs and that explains how deadly he was. How he changed the gear of the game was awesome. His 88 runs from 57 balls are in no way inferior to a century.

When Du Plessis got out, the team's run rate was nearly 10. One may expect Kohli to step up and do the final duties of demolishing Punjab but Dinesh Karthik gave the final touch. Odean's over was torn apart by his two huge sixes and a boundary. The last over was bowled by Sandeep. It was even more expensive because of this explosive. His strike rate of 228.57 shows the intensity of his impact.

In all these occurrences, Kohli was playing his supporting role very well. He was not tempted to go for any wrong shots. This triad's teamwork put RCB in the driver's seat with 205 runs.

When Punjab had to chase this mammoth total of 206 runs, they might be worried but the openers Mayank and Dhawan were playing outstandingly in the powerplay to make the run rate and required run rate to travel parallel to each other. Dhawan's shot selection and timing were perfect.

Even after the departure of the skipper, Rajapaksha shouldered the responsibility and looked into whether they had a grip on the game. The top 3 players were playing with the winning mindset and were carrying the momentum throughout.

The removal of these two openers and the back to back wickets of Siraj were all done perfectly by RCB and at a point of the time, they were dominating. Whenever the partnership was building up, RCB bowlers broke it to bring the game back.

Then where did RCB fail?

22 extras were given by RCB bowlers in this match and that should be called suicide in a T20 match. More than that catches were dropped and run out chances were missed and that is what led RCB to the dead end. On Punjab's side, except Bawa, all the other batsmen contributed very well. The finishers Odean and Sharukh Khan did the final rituals for RCB to win the game and the RCB side failed to build up the pressure on them.

Batsman did not fail RCB this time, but like the vintage RCB team, their bowlers did it this time. They may learn from the mistakes and will come back, even more, stronger in the next match while Mayank and co can applaud themselves for their superb display of the. game in their first match.