India, May 29 -- Punjab Kings' dream run met a brutal reality check in their own backyard as Royal Challengers Bengaluru tore through their top-order in a fiery display of Powerplay bowling. On a pitch they know intimately, the Kings were expected to dictate terms after being put in to bat, but Josh Hazlewood and Bhuvneshwar Kumar had other plans. Their relentless accuracy, aided by poor shot selection and a frozen response under pressure, left PBKS reeling at 48/4 within the first six overs.

The early carnage silenced the Mullanpur crowd and also exposed a side that had cruised through most of the league stage without a serious test of their batting depth. And perhaps, that led to a rather unexpected decision from the team management as...