Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell and South Africa batsman Hashim Amla have guided Kings XI Punjab to an eight-wicket IPL win over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Kings skipper Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 43 from just 22 balls with Amla laying the foundations for the victory with a more circumspect 58 from 38 deliveries to pilot their side to their 149-run target.
AB de Villiers, in his first match following a back injury, hit a brilliant 89 off 49 ball but it wasn't enough to set an imposing score for the hosts, who chased down the 4-184 total in 14.2 overs.
Kings XI, who defeated Rising Pune Supergiant in their opener two days ago, made Royal Challengers struggle for runs until de Villiers, replacing Chris Gayle, exploded in the last four overs.
Royal Challengers had lost three wickets inside the batting powerplay against some superlative bowling by left-arm spinner Axar Patel, who ousted captain Shane Watson in the first over, and medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma, 1-26, who conceded just seven runs in his first three overs.
De Villiers upped the scoring rate appreciably, smashing seven of his nine sixes in the last four overs that included two out of the stadium over mid-wicket.
"We didn't start well with the bat and I'm certainly to blame, getting out in the first over," Watson said.
"We didn't even execute nicely with the ball. There was a little bit more dew than I thought there would be and it was skidding along more in the second innings."
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