IPL 2022, PBKS vs RCB, Top Performances: Bairstow 66, Livingstone 70, Rabada 3-21 keep Punjab afloat

IPL 2022, PBKS vs RCB, Top Performances: Jonny Bairstow's 66, Liam Livingstone's 70 and Kagiso Rabada's 3-21 are top three performances. PBKS beat RCB and move to 6th place in table.

Bairstow gets player of the match against RCB for 29-ball-66 (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Brief Scores: PBKS 209/9 (Livingstone 70, Bairstow 66, Harshal 4/34, Hasaranga 2/15) beat RCB 155/9 (Maxwell 35, Rabada 3/21, Rishi Dhawan 2/36) by 54 runs

Player of the Match: Jonny Bairstow (66 off 29 deliveries)

At the business end of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, we are witness to a tough neck-to-neck battle between the top eight franchises in the points table, with the possible exception of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) who are sitting at 10 points from 12 games, for a playoffs berth.

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) were up against each other at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on May 14 in the 60th game of IPL 2022. RCB sat at 14 points before the commencement of this game while PBKS were at 10 points.

These two franchises have faced each other 30 times in IPL history prior to Friday’s game; Punjab has a slight upper hand over RCB as the former have won 16 games out of those 30, whereas RCB have won 13 games, and one game was abandoned.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to field first. They went in with an unchanged eleven from the previous game, whereas their opponents Punjab included Harpreet Brar in place of Sandeep Sharma.

Punjab Kings register thumping win over Bangalore

As RCB put Punjab in to bat first, the latter’s openers Jonny Bairstow and Shikhar Dhawan provided a quickfire start in the powerplay. The opening duo amassed 60 runs in just the first five overs of the innings. Due to the storming knock of Bairstow and a phenomenal finishing act by Liam Livingstone, Punjab Kings put up a huge total of 209 runs on the board.

While chasing a huge total of 210 runs, RCB openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis kicked off the innings in an attacking manner, however, their quick demise put RCB in trouble. All-rounder Glenn Maxwell and Rajat Patidar tried to bail out their side after the initial jolts, but with their dismissal RCB went downhill quickly to register only 155 runs in 20 overs after losing nine wickets. Thus Punjab defeated RCB by a huge margin of 54 runs.

Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between RCB and PBKS, IPL 2022:

Bairstow scores a quick fire fifty (66 runs) against RCB (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Jonny Bairstow lambasted RCB bowlers in powerplay

England batter Jonny Bairstow hasn’t really put his foot down in this edition of IPL, however, Friday was a different day as he was looking in sublime touch against RCB. He undertook a hard-hitting approach right from the first over of the innings only. The 32-year-old batter lofted a straight six off the bowling of Glenn Maxwell. Bairstow clubbed two more towering sixes and two fours in the next over bowled by pacer Josh Hazlewood. The right-hander targeted the short boundary on mid-wicket consistently.

Bairstow targeted pacer Mohammed Siraj by cracking three huge sixes and one four to gather 23 runs in an over. The England batter completed his fifty in just 21 deliveries, which is his fastest IPL fifty. He smacked powerful strokes using his bottom-hand to good effect throughout his knock. After dominating opponent bowlers for nine overs, Bairstow lost his wicket, while playing an attacking stroke off Shahbaz Ahmed. Bairstow made 66 runs off just 29 deliveries, with the help of four gigantic sixes and seven fours.

Bairstow’s wild knock set the tone of the match in the first few overs only to put RCB out of the game, so he was awarded the Player of the Match award for his phenomenal innings.

Read More: IPL 2022, CSK vs MI, Top Performances: Tilak 34*, Sams 3-16 nullify CSK's unlikely Playoffs bid

Liam Livingstone smashes 42-ball-70-run against RCB and helps PBKS win (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Liam Livingstone’s explosive finishing helped his side to get past 200

When England player Liam Livingstone came in the middle, Punjab were on 85 for two. His batting partner Bairstow was playing a destructive innings from the other end. Livingstone took the role of aggressor after Bairstow departed after making 66 runs off 29 balls. In the twelfth over of the innings, Livingstone launched a flat six over the long-off boundary off Shahbaz Ahmed. He continued to target Ahmed by pummelling a six and a four in his next over.

In the next few overs, Livingstone lost three batting partners, However, he unleashed his attacking strokes in the 19th over of the innings by smashing two towering sixes and two fours to garner 24 runs in the over. The 28-year-old batter completed his fifty in the same over in just 35 deliveries. In the final over of the innings bowled by Harshal Patel, the right-hand batter went for a reverse lap shot off a full-toss delivery but wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik grabbed his catch to end the batter’s innings.

However, Livingstone already did his work by helping his side cross the 200-run mark. He made 70 runs off just 42 deliveries with the help of five fours and four sixes.

Read More: IPL 2022, RCB vs SRH, Top Performances: Faf 73*, Hasaranga fifer smother SRH; RCB stay at number 4

Rabada takes 3-21 against RCB and helps PBKS win (Images ©BCCI/IPL)

Kagiso Rabada bagged three wickets

While chasing a huge target of 210 runs in 20 overs, RCB opener Virat Kohli started playing attacking strokes from the start of the innings only. However, Kagiso Rabada put a break on his aggressive knock by taking his wicket on a personal score of 20 runs. With this wicket upfront, Rabada derailed the innings of RCB to put them under pressure. Rabada bagged the wicket of Kohli twice before this encounter in five IPL games while conceding just 25 runs off 22 deliveries.

The South African pacer bowled another over in the powerplay and conceded only three runs.

Punjab skipper Mayank Agarwal brought back Rabada into the attack in the sixteenth over when RCB were already six-down in the innings. The right-arm pacer dismissed Shahbaz Ahmed in the same over. The Protea seamer bagged another wicket in the penultimate over to nearly end the resistance of RCB in this game.

RCB left-arm seamer Harshal Patel deserves special mention for bowling a sensational spell of 4/34 in such a high-scoring game. He bagged important wickets of Livingstone, Mayank Agarwal, Harpreet Brar and Rishi Dhawan.

Read More: IPL 2022, RR vs PBKS, Top Performances: Chahal's 3-28, Jaiswal 68 help RR win by 6 wickets

TATA IPL 2022 Points Table

How RCB and PBKS stand in the Points Table

RCB are still at the fourth place with 14 points from 13 games, however, their net run rate has taken a dip after suffering this huge loss. Their NRR is now pegged at -0.323. PBKS have helped their cause by registering this big win and are now at the sixth place with 12 poinmts in as many games with a positive NRR of 0.023.

What’s to come

Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders will be at odds with Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on May 14.

Here are some of the top twitter reactions from RCB vs PBKS, 60th game of IPL 2022 as PBKS beat RCB by 54 runs.

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