AB stars in RCB win

Royal Challengers Bangalore overcame stutters at crucial junctions of their innings to beat Kings XI Punjab by four wickets in their Indian Premier League at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru yesterday.

There were two separate occasions during their chase of 155 that Bangalore lost pairs of wickets in quick succession. However, Washington Sundar -- coming in after Mandeep Singh's run-out followed the dismissal of AB de Villiers in the 19th over bowled by Andrew Tye -- kept a cool head and struck a brace of boundaries in the last over bowled by Mohit Sharma to take them home with three balls to spare.

But it was de Villiers's 40-ball 57 that proved most vital. The South African genius came to the crease after another of his kind, captain Virat Kohli, was dismissed for 21 by Afghanistan's 17-year-old wunderkind Mujeeb Ur Rahman, whose googly deceived the Indian captain and hit timber. That left them at 33 for two after Brendon McCullum's dismissal in the first over.

De Villiers hit two boundaries and four sixes and helped Bangalore through a crisis when Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Quinton de Kock (34-ball 45) and Sarfaraz Khan in successive deliveries in the 11th over to leave them on 87 for four. De Villiers took them to within touching distance before holing out, and with five to get in the last over, Sundar ensured there would be no more stutters.

Earlier, KL Rahul's 47 and Karun Nair's 29 were the backbone of Punjab's 155 all out in 19.2 overs. Umesh Yadav was the best bowler for Bangalore, picking three for 23.