Kings XI Punjab will look to put behind it the controversial ‘short run’ decision in its IPL opener and start afresh when it takes on Virat Kohli’s buoyant Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Thursday.
In Kings XI’s opening game against Delhi Capitals, the square-leg umpire erroneously called the Punjab team’s Chris Jordan for a ‘short run’ off the third ball of the 19th over, effectively costing his team the closely fought game.
KXIP went on to lodge an appeal to the match referee over the incident but, on Thursday, K.L. Rahul & Co. would like to forget the incident and focus on the task ahead.
Winning note
In contrast, RCB opened its campaign on a winning note, defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 10 runs.
Devdutt Padikkal started his IPL career on a classy note, hitting a sublime half-century and will once again be in focus, while A.B. de Villers will also look to continue in the same vein following a crucial half-century.
Yuzvendra Chahal, as always, will be the key man in the RCB bowling attack. The leg-spinner was instrumental in his team’s victory over SRH on Monday, triggering a batting collapse.
For KXIP, leggie Ravi Bishnoi impressed against DC while Mayank Agarwal looked in imperious touch but was gutted as he couldn’t get his team over the line.
Rahul, Glenn Maxwell and Nicholas Pooran will be expected to step up. Big-hitter Chris Gayle, who was left out of the opener for better balance in the eleven, could be back and batting all-rounder Jimmy Neesham could also be given a chance.
