Virat Kohli passed 500 runs for the ninth time in a season as Royal Challengers Bengaluru reached 61 for one in the Power Play after being asked to bat first in their Tata IPL match against the Punjab Kings at the Himachal Pradesh Stadium in Dharamsala on Sunday afternoon.
The 37-year-old veteran struck two legside sixes and a four in his unbeaten 24 from 15 deliveries, while Devdutt Padikkal struck his first ball against left-arm spinner Harpreet Brar for six to reach 23 from 14 balls after Brar had dismissed opener Jacob Bethell, bowled off an inside edge for 11 from seven balls.
Punjab won six of their first seven matches before losing the next five and have dropped all-rounder Marco Janseb in a desperate bid to rediscover some form, while Bengaluru sit atop the log and will be guaranteed a place in the playoffs with victory today.
PUNJAB KINGS: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wkt), Cooper Connolly, Shreyas Iyer (captain), Suryansh Shedge, Shashank Singh, Azmatullah Omarzai, Harpreet Brar, Lockie Ferguson, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal Impact subs: Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Vishnu Vinod, Musheer Khan, Praveen Dubey ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Jacob Bethell, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Venkatesh Iyer, Jitesh Sharma (captain/wky), Tim David, Romario Shepherd, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Suyash Sharma Impact subs: Rasikh Salam Dar, Jordan Cox, Abhinandan Singh, Swapnil Singh, Kanishk Chouhan
Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Punjab Kings, IPL, Cricket, Dharamsala, Playoff Race