In yet another top performance, Rising Pune Supergiant defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by a massive 61-run margin to claim their fourth five in last five matches. The win keeps Pune at number four in the points table and gave them a better chance to qualify for play-offs. (Results | Fixtures | Points Table) Batting first, Pune were off to a solid start with Rahul Tripathi once again showing his batting skills. Ajinkya Rahane fell early but forties from Steve Smith, Manoj Tiwary and a 27-run inning from MS Dhoni took them a total of 157 for the loss of four wickets. In reply, Bangalore were hit hard by the Pune bowlers and they managed only 96 runs in their 20 overs and lost nine wickets. Out of the 96 runs, 55 were scored by captain Virat Kohli himself. No other Bangalore player could move his score into double digit. The result keeps Bangalore at number seven in the points table after 10 matches. They have suffered loss in seven matches while winning only two of them. One was washed out and they received a single point for that. They can still qualify for the play-offs but they need to win all their remaining matches and also hope other teams lose theirs. The miserable loss of Bangalore gave social media a chance to criticse the team which is no where close to the team which reached the finals last year. Run rate game for RPS!! — Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) 29 April 2017 No team has ever qualified for the final four with 13 points. #RCB can reach only that far. #IPL — Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 29 April 2017 You'll hear people say "RCB must play for pride." Never understood that. You always play for pride. — Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 29 April 2017 First couple of weeks saw some very close, exciting matches; next 2 weeks, so many have been one-sided. Frontrunners & laggards now defined — Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 29, 2017 RCB inns today: Virat Kohli - 55 off 48 balls (SR 114.58), 4 fours, 1 six All others - 37 off 52 balls (SR 71.15), 2 fours, 0 six#RPSvRCB — Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) April 29, 2017 Bangalore next play Mumbai on Monday.
