Impressive Aravind excels on RCB return

It wasn't until Adam Milne's inability to recover from a foot injury which he sustained during the World Cup 2015, that the Royal Challengers Bangalore decided to include Karnataka medium-pacer Sreenath Arvind in their ranks. The 31-year-old has had stints with RCB earlier and emerged as their highest wicket-taker in 2011 with 12 wickets from 13 games. This year though, it took him ten matches to make it to the playing XI, and Aravind marked a return to the team with a four-wicket haul to complete a demolition of Kings XI Punjab.

After Chris Gayle lit up the evening with a magnificent 14th Twenty20 century, the medium-pacer, along with Mitchell Starc (four for 15), broke the back of Kings XI Punjab's line-up with a sublime four for 27. "I've been working hard for the last two years. I'm sorry for Adam Milne, but that meant I got an opportunity," Aravind said after the match. "I played a few matches in between, so I was confident. This is my home ground in domestic cricket too, so to come here and bowl in familiar conditions in front of the home fans and win felt great."

A prime reason for Kings XI Punjab's horror run (two wins from 10 matches) has been the individual forms of George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell and David Miller. While Maxwell is yet to register a half-century, Bailey and Miller have combined for 444 runs in 18 matches, and on Wednesday, it was Aravind's turn to have their number. "I think all three wickets were big, it's hard to pick when your three wickets are that of Maxwell, Bailey and Miller," he said. "Those guys were capable of taking Punjab close to the target. So it was important to get them early."

RCB's fortunes have changed remarkably since the arrival of Starc. Aravind credits his success to the Australian pacer, saying his sessions with Starc in the nets have come in handy. "It's been interesting working with Starc in the nets," he said. "Everyone knows he's been a superb bowler for Australia recently. I've picked up many things from him, like making use of the seam and angles. Of course yorker is his biggest weapon, so I've learnt quite a bit."

Kings XI Punjab coach Sanjay Bangar rued Gayle's drop catch, saying his innings changed the course of the match. The Jamaican batsman was dropped twice - on 27 and 43 Gayle went on to score his fifth IPL century. "We all know how good the Chinnaswamy wicket is. Once you get going it is very difficult to contain a batsman. I just thought that we should have held on to those two chances. Had that happened, we probably would have been chasing 180-odd runs to win," Bangar said.

"It has been a very difficult phase for us so far. We tried to keep the spirits and confidence high as much as possible, but unless you get a performance under your belt, the confidence doesn't seems to lift up, and that has been our worry."