IPL: Royal Challengers Bangalore stay alive in playoff race

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have kept their playoff hopes alive in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after beating Kings XI Punjab by 17 runs in Bengaluru.

The hosts posted a healthy 202 for 4 and then restricted their opponents to 185 for 7 in 20 overs.

AB de Villiers (unbeaten 82 off 44 balls), Marcus Stoinis (unbeaten 46 off 34 balls) and Parthiv Patel (43 off 24 balls) scored the bulk of the runs for RCB.

Pacer Navdeep Saini (2-33) was the pick of their bowlers as he removed David Miller (24) and Nicholas Pooran (46) in the 19th over and gave away only three runs, while Umesh Yadav took 3-36.

RCB are currently ranked seventh in the league table with eight points, while Punjab are in fifth spot with an extra two points.