House of Max: Maxwell, Chahal star in Bangalore’s passage into IPL 2021 play-offs with 6-run win over Punjab

Maxwell’s 33-ball 57 propelled Bangalore to 164 for seven, which is the highest team total in Sharjah this season. Leg-spinner Chahal then owned the middle-overs with another game-changing spell of 3 for 29 that saw KL Rahul’s team finish at 158 for six.

With 16 points from 12 games, RCB thus became the third team after Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals to make it to the last-four stage. Punjab, with 10 points from 13 matches, can reach 12 points but with a net run-rate of -0.241 is all but out of the competition.

It was another close match that Punjab couldn’t finish off and its skipper Rahul did more damage than help his team’s cause with an innings of 39 off 35 balls. His opening partner Mayank Agarwal (57 off 42 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes) was aggressive, but was fooled by Chahal’s clever variation of pace as he top edged a sweep shot. Nicholas Pooran (3) played a rash sweep shot off a tossed up Chahal delivery while Sarfaraz Khan (0) was undone by a conventional leg-break. Punjab needed 27 runs from the last two overs and Mohammed Siraj (0 for 33 off 4 overs) bowled an impressive penultimate over to bring down the equation to 19 runs off the final one.

Harshal Patel (0 for 27 off 4 overs) defended well by taking the pace off his deliveries. Earlier, Maxwell’s six-hitting prowess was on display as his 57 propelled Bangalore to a challenging score. Opting to bat, RCB suffered a middle-order collapse after openers Devdutt Padikkal (40 off 38 balls, 4 fours, 2 sixes) and Virat Kohli (25 off 24 balls, 2 fours, 1 six) added 68 runs for the first wicket.

Maxwell, who is in the midst of one of his best IPL seasons, hit four sixes and three fours to complete his 50 off 29 balls.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 164/7 in 20 overs (G Maxwell 57, D Padikkal 40, M Shami 3/39, M Henriques 3/12) bt Punjab Kings 158/6 in 20 overs (M Agarwal 57, Y Chahal 3/29)