IPL 2018 Report Card: RCB skipper Virat Kohli scores full marks; KXIP's Ravichandran Ashwin disappoints

Kings XI Punjab were looking to end their last home match of the season on a high against Royal Challengers Bangalore, but things didn’t go as per their plans as the visitors won the match 10 wickets. [caption id=“attachment_4470215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Royal Challengers Bangalore players celebrate a wicket against Kings XI Punjab. AFP[/caption] While Bangalore kept their hopes for a playoff berth alive with the victory on Monday, Punjab aggravated their situation further by losing the match. It all started with Umesh Yadav’s opening burst in which he claimed the wickets of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle after they put on an opening stand of 36 runs. No other batsman could make an impact as the hosts were bowled out for a paltry 88 runs, and the small target was chased down successfully by Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel. Let’s have a look at the individual performances of the players and how they fared on a scale of 1-10: Umesh Yadav - 10/10 It was the Vidarbha Express Umesh Yadav who sent shockwaves down the Kings XI Punjab camp as he got rid of openers Gayle and Rahul in quick succession. Yadav had troubled both batsmen quite early in their innings with Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers dropping catches offered from the openers. However, Yadav made use of the short delivery well and claimed both their wickets. He came on to bowl in the latter half of the innings and removed Andrew Tye to complete a terrific spell of 4-0-23-3. He was deservedly adjudged the Man of the Match. Virat Kohli - 9/10 The Royal Challengers skipper Virat Kohli walked out to open the innings alongside Parthiv Patel. He showed no mercy for the Kings XI bowlers and kept smashing them all around the park. He played a splendid innings, an unbeaten knock of 48 runs off just 28 deliveries, hitting six fours and two sixes. He hit the winning runs when a bouncer from Ankit Rajpoot took the top edge of his bat and flew straight over the keeper’s head to the boundary. Parthiv Patel-9/10 The Gujarat skipper continued to show his experience and class with another useful knock at the top of the order. He smashed 40 runs in 22 deliveries during the 92-run opening stand with Kohli. He played some fabulous shots square of the wicket and kept punishing the bowlers for straying in line and length. Yuzvendra Chahal- 8/10 Chahal has bowled very well for the past few matches, but was unlucky in grabbing number of wickets he deserved. He bowled two overs in this match and conceded just six runs. On top of that, he cleaned up Marcus Stoinis with a beautiful delivery. Moeen Ali-8/10 Moeen Ali accounted for the wicket of the man who could have saved Punjab from the blushes. Aaron Finch was looking good as he raced away to a score of 26 runs off just 22 deliveries. However, he was out to Moeen trying to go for a big shot in the 12th over of the innings. Mohammad Siraj - 7/10 Siraj has been pretty good with the ball for Bangalore throughout the tournament. He continued his form on Monday too as he conceded just 17 runs in is three overs and also claimed a wicket. His victim was Karun Nair, who got dismissed after scoring just a solitary run. Colin de Grandhomme - 7/10 The Kiwi all-rounder has helped the Royal Challengers with valuable contributions both with bat and ball in recent times. He continued to do that even on Monday as he bowled two overs for just eight runs and claimed the wicket of Mayank Agarwal. KL Rahul - 6/10 Rahul began in the usual manner, blasting three sixes and raced away to 21 runs off just 14 deliveries. His sixes came off hook shots over the fine leg boundary and he was dismissed in a similar attempt, caught on the boundary by Grandhomme off Umesh Yadav’s bowling. Aaron Finch - 6/10 Finch tried his best to get Punjab to a decent total. He was playing with the tailenders well and has raced away to 26 runs. However, he was dismissed by Moeen, trying to go for a big shot. Chris Gayle - 5/10 Gayle got a life quite early in his innings as Parthiv dropped him off Yadav’s bowling. He took advantage of that and hit four scintillating boundaries in quick time. However, Yadav again accounted for his wicket as Gayle miscued a pull shot only to be caught by Mohammad Siraj at deep square leg boundary. Tim Southee - 4/10 When all the bowlers put up a splendid performance, conceding at less than six runs per over, Southee bowled two and gave away 19 runs at an economy rate if 9.5, without taking any wickets. However, he did effect a good run out to send Ankit Rajpoot back to the pavilion. Axar Patel - 3/10 Axar Patel was trying to help Kings XI bat 20 overs through, but he could not as Ankit Rajpoot was run out in the first delivery of the 16th over. Axar remained unbeaten on nine off 13 deliveries. Andrew Tye - 2/10 Tye was the only one from Punjab to complete his quota of overs. He bowled well, but he proved to be ineffective as wicket-taker in front of Kohli and Parthiv. He registered bowling figures of 4-0-33-0. Karun Nair - 1/10 Karun Nair’s poor run of form continued as he got dismissed for just a solitary run. It was Siraj who claimed his wicket in the very next over to the one in which Yadav got rid of Gayle and Rahul. Mayank Agarwal - 1/10 Agarwal’s torrid time in the tournament continued as he returned to the pavilion after scoring just two. He was sent out to bat at No 6 in the match, but fell victim to a beautiful delivery from Grandhomme, edging it to the keeper. Ankit Rajpoot - 1/10 Rajpoot bowled seven deliveries in this match and was taken to the cleaners by Kohli, conceding 21 runs. Marcus Stoinis - 1/10 First, Stoinis failed to contribute with the bat, having been cleaned up by Chahal after scoring just two runs. And then, he gave away 12 runs off the only over he bowled. Mohit Sharma - 1/10 Mohut Sharma conceded 15 runs in the only over he bowled and scored two runs with the bat. Ravichandran Ashwin - 1/10 The Kings XI skipper was one of the major failures in this match. He was run out on a golden duck and then bowled just one over conceding 9 runs in it. AB de Villiers - NA AB de Villiers didn’t have to walk out to bat this time as Kohli and Parthiv finished things off in style. De Villiers did effect a very good run out to get rid of Mohit Sharma. Mandeep Singh-NA Mandeep Singh didn’t get the opportunity to bat. Sarfaraz Khan - NA Like Mandeep, Sarfaraz also didn’t get the opportunity to bat. So it would be unfair to rate him as well. Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor