Punjab Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru, 37th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

So RCB have moved to the number 3rd place in the points table. They are winning away games, but they need to start winning at home if they want to make it to the playoffs. Their bowlers have looked far better as compared to the previous few seasons, just that they need to keep playing in a similar way going forward. Their batters - most of them have been among the runs as well. Things looking pretty good for them for now. That brings an end to our coverage of the first clash of the day. You can switch tabs and follow our live coverage of the match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings. This is Nikhil signing off on behalf of Siva, Anurag and Sagar. Ciao!

Virat Kohli | Player of the Match: Very important game for us. 2 points can make a massive difference in terms of qualification. We have played some amazing cricket away from home. When you go from eight to ten (points), it makes a massive difference in the points table. The mindset has to be to get 2 points in every game. I wanted to accelerate more. I thought Dev made a difference today, this award should go to him, I don't know why they have given it to me. I try to stay there, holding one end up and try to accelerate later. There always is a temptation to keep going in the same way. Last game was a shortened game, so we had to go hard (against PBKS.) We had to analyse the pitch in Rajasthan. One partnership is good enough in T20 cricket during run chase. I can accelerate, but I want to understand the strengths of other players. Holding one end up at the moment, that's working for us. It was a very good auction for us, we got a good team. These guys were composed (after the auction.) Guys like David, Jitesh, Patidar, the roles they are playing. It's coming off nicely. Also Romario coming in for us today. Livingstone's also there. That was missing over the last seasons. Guys can keep counter-attacking, the guys are hungry. You can see that intensity on the field as they are diving around. That is really pleasing to see. When you play like that, your chances of winning are better.

Rajat Patidar | RCB captain: Credit goes to the bowlers. Dev and Kohli, the way they executed their plans. The bowlers chipped in at different stages, the way they executed their plans, it was beautiful. Had to bowl tight lines as the wicket was a little slow. That was the message to all the bowlers. We had a chat last night about our fielding. Everyone put in their efforts and that was beautiful. I want to win a toss there (Chinnaswamy). We will try to play good cricket at our home ground, we will try to rectify our mistakes there.

Five away wins for RCB in the league phase in a season
2012 (8 games)
2015 (7 games)
2025 (5* games)

Padikkal: It was important when I went in that I built a partnership with Virat. These small totals can be tricky and I wanted to make sure I give a good start. There's been a lot of hard work that's gone in the last few months. With DK and Andy I've worked on certain aspects and it's coming off now. When you have someone on the other side with that much confidence and calmness, it makes your job easy. Playing for my home state and city is very special. It always feels a little bit more special when you play for them and play in the Chinnaswamy as well. There's a lot of confidence in the side. Everyone is batting well and getting runs. We haven't batted well in our home conditions, which is something we have to accept and take responsibility for. Hopefully we can really work on that.

Shreyas Iyer: Just a minor niggle, should be fine after this game. If you see the majority of our batters like to go from ball one, we’ve struggled to assess the wicket when we bat first. Otherwise we’ve not been able to capitalise on the starts we’ve been getting. We weren’t able to set a total we could defend. If you see the positives, we got a great start, the bowlers have been doing a tremendous job. Credit to Virat and the boys, they played well. We keep talking about adapting to the wicket, once the ball gets old it doesn’t skid off the wicket that well. Both of them (openers) are great strokemakers, it’s hard for them to comprehend if you tell them to slow down. Need to take the bull by the horns and see to it that we get a good total on the board for the bowlers. I’m in a great mindspace, I just need to cross 10 runs and I can take on the charge. Don’t want to give reasons, want to stay in the present as much as possible. We’ve got six days off, important that we go back to the drawing board, also important we rejuvenate and refresh, need to make sure we’re in the best shape possible before the next game.

18:51 Local Time, 13:21 GMT, 18:51 IST: A comfortable victory for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and they are back to winning ways. It was an impressive effort by their bowlers to restrict the Punjab Kings to a mediocre total and their batters have completed the chase without breaking a sweat. They were always in control. Earlier in the day, the RCB spinners - Krunal and Suyash claimed a couple of wickets each, while Bhuvi and Hazlewood were outstanding towards the end overs. They didn't allow the Punjab players break free in the death overs, eventually restricting them below the 160-run mark. In reply, RCB did lose Salt in the first over of the run chase, but Kohli and Padikkal had a solid partnership for the second wicket. Padikkal was aggressive in the powerplay and also following that. In the process, he also notched up a brisk fifty. And once DDP departed, Kohli took control of proceedings. He notched up his 59th IPL fifty and took RCB over the line in the 19th over. A clinical performance by the Challengers indeed. Stay around for the presentations..

Nehal Wadhera to Jitesh Sharma, SIX, Jitesh Sharma hits the winning runs! Fraction short and the batsman rocks back to pull the short ball over deep mid-wicket. That's a huge six by Jitesh Sharma and the players exchange handshakes. Shreyas Iyer exchanges a few words with Kohli as well. Probably a friendly banter between the two players..

Nehal Wadhera to Kohli, 1 run, darted on leg, Kohli backs away and steers it into the off-side for one

Nehal Wadhera to Jitesh Sharma, 1 run, flatter through the air on off, Jitesh Sharma knocks it to long-off for one

Nehal Wadhera to Jitesh Sharma, no run, on a length around middle and leg, nudged to mid-wicket

Nehal Wadhera to Kohli, 1 run, flatter delivery on middle and leg, Kohli knocks it to long-on for a single

Nehal Wadhera, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

Equation: 8 runs required in 2 overs. Think Kohli will try to finish it off in this over itself..

Harpreet Brar to Kohli, 1 run, 150 up for RCB! Yorker length delivery by Harpreet Brar, the batsman shimmies down the track and squeezes it into the off-side

Harpreet Brar to Jitesh Sharma, 1 run, loopy delivery on off, Jitesh Sharma chips it to long-off for one

Harpreet Brar to Kohli, 1 run, RCB batters being watchful against Harpreet Brar. A short ball by the spinner, Kohli makes room and punches it through the off-side for one

Harpreet Brar to Jitesh Sharma, 1 run, driven along the carpet to long-off for a single by Jitesh Sharma

Harpreet Brar to Kohli, 1 run, down the wicket to drill this loopy delivery to long-on for a single

Harpreet Brar to Jitesh Sharma, 1 run, tossed up delivery around off, chipped towards log-off for a single