SHARJAH: KL Rahul played a captain’s shot and Chris Gayle fired in his first game since January when Kings XI Punjab finally ended their five-game losing streak with an eight-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL match on Thursday.
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Chasing 172 in a must-win game, the opening pair in the form of Rahul (61, not 49) and Mayank Agarwal (45 of 25) got off to a good start before Gayle (53 of 45) joined their pattern in the middle. to bring KXIP closer to the finish line.
Needing seven of the last two overs with nine wickets in hand, KXIP somehow managed to take the game to the last ball with Nicholas Pooran finally hitting all six winners.
Both Rahul and Gayle crushed five sixes each, leaving the opposition attack defenseless.

Batting first, Captain Virat Kohli scored the all-time leading scorer with 48 of 39 balls in his 200th game for RCB before Chris Morris 25 of 8 in the death overs led the team to 171 of six.
It was an exceptional and comprehensive effort from KXIP, which failed to close games early in the competition.
Mohammad Shami (2/45) conceded 24 runs in the final over which ruined his numbers after he got rid of Kohli and AB de Villiers, but overall it was a much better bowling effort from KXIP, especially in death overs. .

Leg spinner M Ashwin struck twice and pacemaker Chris Jordan took his first wicket of the tournament.
The race chase was supposed to be straightforward after Agarwal led the opposition to the cleaners in the power play before Rahul took over. As usual, Gayle, 41, hitting all three, took his time early on before freaking out.
Previously, KXIP conceded just 25 runs from 16-19 before Morris and Isuru Udana beat Shami for three sixes.
Rahul experimented with opening the bowling alley with Glenn Maxwell (0/28 in 4 overs). He was swept by his Australian teammate and close friend Aaron Finch on the final ball.

Another starter Devdutt Padikkal (18) also went for his shots with his best punch of the night being Shami’s whip that went for a six on the deep square leg.
However, both Padikkal and Finch were unable to take advantage of their beginnings. Padikkal was fooled by a slower left arm pacemaker Arshdeep Singh into being caught under cover, while Finch missed a quick leg rest from M Ashwin, leaving RCB at 62 for two in the seventh.
With Kohli looking good at the other end, AB de Villiers was expected to come in at his usual number four spot, but with two spinning legs working, left-handed hitter Washington Sundar was sent ahead of the South African.

The move didn’t work as he fought for 13 of 14 balls.
KXIP, whose bowling alley has been the weakest link, did quite well with 11-14 overs conceding just 20 runs to pressure the opposition.
RCB needed to keep going and left-hander Shivam Dube provided the timely blow, sending Ravi Bishnoi to six straight to rack up 19 runs from the finish.
Following Dube’s firing on the 15th, De Villiers finally joined Kohli for the late assault, which was eventually provided by Morris.