IPL 2021, PBKS vs RCB as it happened: Harpreet Brar, Ravi Bishnoi spin PBKS to a big win

And that’s it from us today. The Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings on Saturday is a big one.

Punjab Kings win by 34 runs. A superb win for KL Rahul’s side. RCB finish with 145/8. Their chase never really got underway as Kohli and Patidar struggled to score quickly enough.

After 19.4 overs, RCB 144/8: WICKET! Bishnoi takes a wonderful catch, diving forward at long-off, to send back Harshal Patel (31 off 13).

After 19 overs, RCB 133/7: 16 runs from the Jordan but it is too little and too late. Royal Challengers Bangalore need 47 runs in 6 balls

After 18 overs, RCB 117/7: 15 runs from the Shami over but RCB need bigger overs; much bigger. Harshal and Jamieson throwing their bats around a bit.

After 17 overs, RCB 102/7: Royal Challengers Bangalore need 78 runs in 18 balls. A task that is seemingly impossible to achieve.

After 15.4 overs, RCB 96/7: WICKET! Bishnoi’s googly does the trick. Sams edges it back onto the stumps.

After 15.4 overs, RCB 96/6: WICKET! Shahbaz Ahmed holes out in the deep. Brar takes the catch and Bishnoi pockets the wicket. Royal Challengers Bangalore need 84 runs in 26 balls.

After 14.4 overs, RCB 91/5: WICKET! Patidar (31 off 30) was trying to move up the gears but he skied it and Pooran took the catch. Jordan the bowler. This match is as good as over?

After 14 overs, RCB 84/4: Patidar has been trying really hard to play some shots but it just hasn’t worked for him. He got a six and a four off Hooda but RCB need plenty more of those.

Brar finishes with 4-1-19-3. Superb spell. Game-changing spell.

After 12.1 overs, RCB 69/4: Brar strikes to send back AB de Villiers! ABD (3 off 9) hit that straight to KL Rahul. He has now got the wickets of Kohli, Maxwell and ABD!! What a match he is having. Got that vital 25 too.

After 12 overs, RCB 69/3: Another solid over by Bishnoi. They are just not letting RCB off the hook.

Brar finishes the over with two wickets and no runs. A double-wicket maiden!

After 10.2 overs, RCB 62/3: Two in two!! Brar has got Kohli and Maxwell!! Wow. Both bowled. Brilliant. Can he get the hat-trick?

After 10.1 overs, RCB 62/2: WICKET! Kohli went down the wicket but Brar saw him, dropped it short and bowled the RCB skipper. Kohli made 35 off 34 balls.

After 10 overs, RCB 62/1: Just three off the Bishnoi over. He is bowling very well – mixing his googlies well with the leg-spinning deliveries.

After 9 overs, RCB 59/1: Punjab were 83 at this point but this was when Gayle was going great guns. They lost a few wickets after this. RCB have played Brar well but Patidar (14 off 19) is struggling.

After 8 overs, RCB 50/1: Jordan starts off with a splendid over but Punjab’s fielders are on the edge here. Two overthrows in the last two overs have resulted in two singles.

After 7 overs, RCB 46/1: Kohli got a straight six off left-arm spinner Brar but he is still not striking it very well. The RCB skipper has 26 off 23 and he will now hope to stay there till the end.

After 6 overs, RCB 36/1: Bishnoi into the attack and the leg-spinner does well in his first over. The Powerplay overs are done and RCB haven’t done nearly as much as they would have wanted to. Punjab were 49/1 at the same stage.

After 5 overs, RCB 32/1: Another fine over by Meredith. He has continued to charge in and bowl fast. Seven runs from the over. RCB just trying to see out his early spell.

After 4 overs, RCB 25/1: Another nice over by Shami, just 5 runs off it. Just a few singles in the over.

After 3 overs, RCB 20/1: Meredith showing what PBKS were looking for him when they spoke about needing some raw pace.

Over 2.3: SIX AND OUT! Devdutt Padikkal uses the pace from Riley Meredith to clear the fence over point but next ball he is undone by a 145.6 kph bullet. The stumps have gone for a proper cartwheel. You don’t see that often in cricket these days. The stump cam was delightful. Quite the sight for any fast bowler.

After 2 overs, RCB 12/0: Kohli starts the Shami over with a superb lofted shot down the ground. That was quite the sight, disdainful yet elegant. Shami however does well to make it just a 5-run over.

After 1 over, RCB 7/0: Pacy start from Meredith as you’d expect. A big LBW appeal against Kohli but seemed to be edged onto the pads. The Indian captain flicks one on his pads for four. A couple of quick singles, surely not another big wicket tonight for a runout?

Riley Meredith to start. KL Rahul is not wearing the gloves, Prabhsimran is keeping the wickets.

Punjab Kings: 179/5 (20): Run-chase about to begin. Kohli and Padikkal in the middle.

Innings break: How are you feeling RCB fans? A good run-chase on the cards here.

Innings break: KL Rahul vs RCB in the last couple of IPL editions. This is where that *I took it personally* meme from The Last Dance would be perfect.

After 20 overs, PBKS 179/5: A 22-run last over makes it a very good finish by Punjab. They were struggling big time but have managed to reach a competitive 179 thanks to a brilliant 57-ball 91 by Rahul and a vital 17-ball 25 by Harpreet. 45 runs in the last three overs.

After 19 overs, PBKS 157/5: Siraj’s brilliant over was spoilt by an edged four off the last ball. But it is still just a seven run over. Kohli would have taken that on any day.

After 18 overs, PBKS 150/5: Brar giving Punjab a lift with a four and six off Harshal, who lost it a little. Another four off the last ball, this time of Rahul’s bat, made it an 18-run over. Just what the batting side needed.

After 17 overs, PBKS 132/5: Another steady over for RCB. The last of Sams’ four over (4-0-24-1). He has done a good job for his team today.

After 16 overs, PBKS 126/5: KL Rahul needs to stay there till the end and hope he can make the most of the last two overs of the innings.

Punjab were cruising after 10 overs but have badly lost their way in the last five overs: 29 runs, 4 wickets.

After 14.4 overs, PBKS 118/5: WICKET! Shahrukh (0) falls to Chahal. Lovely googly did the trick. Clean bowled.

After 14 overs, PBKS 117/4: WICKET! Another Punjab batsman walking back. Hooda (5 for 9 balls) went for the big shot, found Patidar in the deep. A wicket for Shahbaz Ahmed.

After 11.3 overs, PBKS 107/3: WICKET! Pooran’s horror run continues. He is gone for another duck. This time he lasted just three balls. Jamieson using his height to extract bounce from the wicket and that did the trick.

After 10.4 overs, PBKS 99/2: WICKET! The short ball from Sams does the trick. Gayle (46 off 24) went for the hook but only managed to pop it up to AB de Villiers.

After 10 overs, PBKS 90/1: Punjab started slowly then Gayle (45* off 22) took over. KL Rahul (36 off 31) has settled into the anchor’s role. But great first half of the innings.

After 9 overs, PBKS 83/1: Not a good night for Chahal. He had two sixes hit in his first over and now Rahul smashed the last ball of his second over for another six. The leg-spinner just hasn’t got it together this season. Punjab are motoring along now.

After 8 overs, PBKS 70/1: The 50-run stand between Gayle and Rahul has come off 27 balls... 36 of those runs being scored by Gayle. Harshal Patel coming into the attack and doing a good job. Just 6 runs off the over.

After 7 overs, PBKS 64/1: A six off the second ball and a six off the last ball. Chahal getting hammered by Gayle there. The first one was flat as flat can be and the second was just powered down the ground again. Gayle has sped to 36 off 13 balls.

After 6 overs, PBKS 49/1: 4-4-4-4-.-4! Gayle coming to the party against Jamieson. Superb hitting. Over the infield, through it and in the gap. The big Jamaican bring all his experience into play to make it a decent Powerplay for Punjab. 20 runs from the over.

After 5 overs, PBKS 29/1: KL Rahul is capable of playing so many shots but it is a shame that he is holding himself back.... has been doing so for the last couple of season. Just one over left in the Powerplay. PBKS have to be more adventurous.

After 3.3 overs, PBKS 19/1: Prabhsimaran (7) never got going there. Tried to come down the wicket to Jamieson but it hit high on the bat and was easily caught by Kohli at cover.

After 3 overs, PBKS 18/0: Prabhsimaran got a four but Sams was otherwise very accurate. Just 5 runs from the over.

After 2 overs, PBKS 13/0: KL Rahul with a fabulous six to kickstart the Punjab innings. Just a tad short from Siraj and the right-hander stood tall and pulled it away. Another four runs in the over.

After 1 over, PBKS 3/0: Sams getting the ball to come back in the batsmen. A superb first over to start things off.

KL Rahul and Prabhsimran Singh have walked out to open the innings for PBKS. Sam to open the bowling for RCB.

Playing XIs: No Washington Sundar for RCB today.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Shahbaz Ahmed, Daniel Sams, Kyle Jamieson, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

Punjab Kings: KL Rahul(w/c), Chris Gayle, Deepak Hooda, Nicholas Pooran, Prabhsimran Singh, Shahrukh Khan, Chris Jordan, Riley Meredith, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami, Harpreet Brar

Team news for PBKS: “Mayank got hit last game, so he’s not feeling too well.” - KL Rahul confirms that opener Agarwal will miss out this evening.

Toss: Wow. Virat Kohli wins the toss again and RCB will bowl first.

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match at the Motera stadium. PBKS will have their task cut to revive a stuttering campaign when they face Virat Kohli’s high-flying team.

On one side, the team based out of Karnataka are on tremendous form. On the other side, the team with strong representation from Karnataka (and a fair few former RCB players in their ranks) have struggled.

Smarting from a five-wicket defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders, it will not be an easy task for a struggling Punjab side to stand up to the challenge thrown by a RCB team, which has been firing on all cylinders for most part of the tournament so far.