KXIP captain R Ashwin hit the first ball of the last over for a six, straight down the ground, to keep the match alive. He played a similar shot off the next ball, only to see rival RCB skipper Virat Kohli timing his jump to perfection to complete the catch at long-on in the 42nd match of IPL 2019
With two firebrand leaders Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin leading their respective sides, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab, the 42nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium expectedly witnessed some heated exchanges between the opposing players.
But the one involving the two captains stood out in a keenly contested match which was decided in the final over. After Navdeep Saini got the wicket of free-wheeling Nicholas Pooran off the last ball of the penultimate over, R Ashwin joined Mandeep Singh in the centre with KXIP still needing 27 from six balls.
The KXIP skipper hit the first ball of the last over, bowled by Umesh Yadav, for a six, straight down the ground to keep the match alive. Ashwin played a similar shot off the next ball, only to see rival captain Kohli timing his jump to perfection to complete the catch at long-on.
It was followed by a very animated send-off from Kohli and a furious Ashwin was seen throwing his batting gloves once he reached the dugout.
Watch it here:
RCB rode on AB de Villiers' unbeaten 82 off 44 balls to set a 203-run target for the visitors. Despite steady contribution from the top order batsmen, KXIP lost the match by 17 runs.