Punjab Kings ride on Odean heroics

Muscat, March 28

The newest West Indies’ star on the horizon Odean Smith announced himself on the grand stage of the Indian Premier League as he blasted the Punjab Kings to a sensational five-wicket victory against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Navi Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium, on Sunday.

Smith’s late flourish of 25 runs off just eight balls completely turned the tide in Punjab Kings’ favour.

The Royal Challengers came undone despite a brilliant innings of 88 (57b, 3×4, 7×6) from new skipper Faf du Plessis and vital middle order contributions from Virat Kohli (41, 29b, 1×4, 2×6) and Dinesh Karthik (32, 14b, 3×4, 3×6).

A power-packed batting performance from the Punjab Kings’ opening batsmen, the fluent Mayank Agarwal (32, 24b, 2×4, 2×6) and the vastly experienced Shikhar Dhawan (43, 29b, 5×4, 1×6) laid the platform for the Kings.

Sri Lankan import Bhanuka Rajapaksa’s aggressive knock of 43 off 22 balls at a strike rate of 195 plus catapulted the Kings to the next level as they reached the business end of the game.

Rajapaksa slammed two fours and six hits over the fence as he took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners especially Wanindu Hasaranga and Mohammad Siraj.

RCB’s bowling was again their achilles’ heel as it has been over the last many seasons as Siraj, Akash Deep and Hasaranga among the most expensive bowlers.

Siraj went for a whopping 59 runs in his stipulated four overs at an economy rate of 14.75 while Akash Deep conceded 38 runs in three overs and Hasaranga 40 runs off four overs.

Royal Challengers felt they had an opportunity when Liam Livingstone was out in the 15th over and the Punjab Kings were at 156/5.

However, the Odean Smith-Shahrukh Khan Show simply took the game away from RCB.

Smith was an absolute revelation as he made the most of being dropped in the 17th over by going ballistic in the 18th over as he smashed 25 runs with three huge sixes and a boundary.

Shahrukh Khan then wrapped up proceedings in the 19th over as the Punjab Kings earned a well-deserved victory.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 205/2 in 20 overs (Du Plessis 88, Kohli 41, Karthik 32) lt to Punjab Kings: 208/5 in 19 overs (Dhawan 43, Rajapaksa 43, Smith 25 n.o., Shahrukh 24 n.o.)