Axar Patel's lusty blows en route his 17-ball-38 enabled Kings XI Punjab reach a respectable 138 for 7 on a difficult track against a disciplined Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League, encounter here tomorrow.
Axar hit three fours and two sixes with 19 runs off the 20th over bowled by Shane Watson (1/43 in 4 overs) helped KXIP reach closer to 140 -- something that looked impossible after 19 overs.
On a slow Chinnaswamy track, none of the Kings XI Punjab batsmen save Axar looked comfortable with run-scoring being an arduous job.
The normally flamboyant Manan Vohra (25, 28 balls) also played a subdued knock hitting a six and a four.
Wriddhiman Saha, India's 'Test wicketkeeper' played like a longer-format specialist trying to drop anchor during his painstaking 21 off 25 balls. He looked completely out-of-sorts as it has been the case with him throughout the IPL.
It was Patel coming in at No 7, who gave the innings some sort of impetus during the end overs with his lovely cameo.
Left-arm pacer Aniket Chaudhary (2/17 in 4 overs) gave RCB breakthrough in the very first over when Hashim Amla (1) got a faintest of an edge to be snapped by Kedar Jadhav behind the stumps.
Martin Guptill (9) was done in by the slowish track as he
Sliced Sreenath Aravind (1/13 in 2 overs) to Pawan Negi stationed at sweeper cover.
Shaun Marsh (20) looked elegant during his short stay but trying to hoick Negi (1/21 in 3 overs) over long-off saw him offer Mandeep Singh a simple catch.
Vohra played a slog-sweep off Negi effectively, hitting him for a six before trying to repeat the same shot off Yuzvendra Chahal (2/21 in 4 overs). He was holed out at long- on by AB de Villiers.
Skipper Glenn Maxwell's (6) horrendous run continued as he tried a reverse sweep only to be caught at short third-man.
At 78 for 5, the Saha-Patel pair stemmed the rot partially with a 34-run stand but could never really get going.
A total of 11 boundaries and three sixes would tell the story of Kings XI Punjab's struggle.
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