Mohali: Murali Vijay's captain knock went in vain as the Royal Challengers Bangalore snatched a nerve-wracking 1-run win victory over the Kings XI Punjab in an enthralling IPL IX encounter, here on Monday.
Chasing a target of 176, KXIP were cruising along with Vijay smashing 89 off 57 balls, but Chris Jordan managed to hold his nerves as he gave away 15 runs in the final over in which the home team needed 17 runs. The final score for KXIP was 174 for four.
Needing four runs off the last delivery, Marcus Stoinis (34, 22 balls) could take only two as Virat Kohli was delirious in joy the moment match finished.
The win took RCB to the sixth position with 8 points from 9 games as they still have a chance of qualifying for play-offs while KXIP with six points from 10 games look all but out of the tournament.
The last four overs saw KXIP requiring 40 runs with Vijay looking in great touch before tragedy struck. It was old warhorse Watson (2/22), who delivered the needful as he dug in a short one and Vijay went for the pull. He could not connect it as Yuzvendra Chahal took a well-judged catch at deep mid-wicket boundary. He hit 12 boundaries and a six. The match just slipped away despite Stoinis cameo.
Hashim Amla (21) and Vijay started on a positive note with the KXIP skipper finding gaps with ease. They added 45 runs before Amla tried to pull Watson as Stuart Binny stationed at the edge of the circle at mid-wicket timed his jump to perfection to take a good catch.
Vijay hit some great shots including a lovely back cut off Watson, an on drive off Stuart Binny and a pulled boundary off Jordan.
When Varun Aaron bowled a fast rising delivery, Vijay used the pace to pull it behind square for a six. Along with Wriddhiman Saha (16), he added 43 runs as the pair ran well between the wickets before trouble struck.
Leg spinner Chahal (2/30) dismissed Saha and an out-of-form David Miller (0) with successive deliveries, stumped by 'keeper Lokesh Rahul.
While Rahul fumbled a bit when Saha missed trying to give Chahal the charge, he effected a far smoother stumping when the leggie slided one across Miller, who tried playing a defensive prod.
From 88 for one, KXIP were reduced to 88 for three when Vijay tried to take charge as he hit Jordan for a couple of boundaries.
In the next over, Vijay launched into left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah for a couple of boundaries.
In the next over, it was Aaron's turn to be sliced to deep point boundary while Chahal lost his length and was hit a for a couple of more boundaries.
Earlier, Virat had one of his rarest failures in recent times, though RCB scored an impressive 175 for six, riding on AB de Villiers' stroke-filled 64 off 35 balls.
Skipper Kohli, who has been fastest to reach 500 runs in an IPL season, was out for 20 as it was De Villiers's late surge that saw RCB's total gain momentum on a track which was getting slower with passage of time. De Villiers's innings had five boundaries and two sixes.
The sixes included a sweep shot and a pull over mid-wicket off Sandeep while he also played another audacious sweep shot off KXIP's best bowler Mohit Sharma for a boundary. He also hit Mohit's slower for a boundary.
Once he reached his half-century off 30 balls, De Villiers started hammering the bowlers with great disdain.
