Bangalore, May 12: The pressure had been on the Bangalore Royal Challengers, desperate for a win, going into this game, but once again their batting failed to ignite as Kings XI Punjab restricted them to 143 for 8 after Rahul Dravid chose to bat.

During a brief period when Misbah-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli were batting, it finally looked as if Bangalore's top order would be able to take charge and control the innings, but unfortunately for the bottom-placed side, the two couldn't capitalise after getting starts.

With the pitch offering some assistance, Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan got the ball to swing away and in to the right-hander respectively. Pathan's first over went for a maiden, and J Arunkumar was done in by some extra bounce from Sreesanth's first ball of the second, Mahela Jayawardene completing a straightforward catch at first slip.

That brought in Misbah, who had come into the side replacing Shivnarine Chanderpaul. After sticking mostly to a good length on off, Sreesanth pitched two short, and Misbah managed to get both to the boundary, though not off the middle of the bat. At the other end, Kolhi dispatched Pathan for successive fours, and Bangalore got some momentum going with 16 off four consecutive deliveries.

Misbah then launched into Sreesanth, just clearing the long-off boundary, but it was the four that followed that would have lifted one and all in the Bangalore camp. Misbah made room to a full delivery on middle, got down on his knee and majestically drove the ball through point. But, as audacious his shots can be, so can be some of his dismissals, and the next ball he somehow trod onto the stumps while pushing a Sreesanth delivery to the off side, and departed for a entertaining eight-ball 21.

Yuvraj then took the gamble by giving Piyush Chawla the final Powerplay over. The move looked to have backfired when Chawla started by straying on leg, giving away five wides before Kohli swept him for two fours. However, he got his captain a wicket. Kohli perished playing one shot too many, a straighter delivery from Chawla kept a bit low, and he found himself stranded on the back foot as the ball crashed into off and middle.

Cameron White and Rahul Dravid struggled to keep up the initial momentum. VRV Singh slipped in a couple of economical overs, and Chawla got his second wicket when White's attempted heave over midwicket took a top edge, the bowler ran towards midwicket to complete a splendid catch.

Against Chennai Super Kings, Punjab had given away 59 runs between overs 11-15, a phase that perhaps costed them the game, but they didn't fritter it away today, with Bangalore managing only 28 runs in that period, hitting just two boundaries. Dravid once again was unable to improvise as required in the Twenty20 format, and his 27-ball 29 would do little to silence the critics.

James Hopes was taken for 16 off the 16th over, with Boucher hitting three boundaries, but like against Chennai, Punjab's bowlers were largely right on the mark at the end. VRV followed up his miserly first spell, in which he gave just eight, with an exceptional second, conceding the same number of runs. VRV's mantra was simple: he kept it straight, putting in the occasional short delivery, and towards the end he relied primarily on yorkers. However, he was unlucky to only pick up one wicket.

Bangalore would need their bowlers to strike early if they are to have any chance of a win, but Punjab would be favourites to hunt down an easy target.

Bangalore Royal Challengers inning: J Arunkumar c Jayawardene b Sreesanth 1, V Kohli b Chawla 21, Misbah-ul-Haq hit wicket b Sreesanth 21, CL White c & b Chawla 10,R Dravid b Pathan 29, MV Boucher run out (Chawla/Kaul) 39, P Kumar b Sreesanth 5, R Vinay Kumar b Singh 1, Z Khan not out 1, A Kumble not out 0 Extras: (b 5, lb 2, w 8) 15 Total: (8 wickets; 20 overs) 143 (7.15 runs per over) FOW; 1-4, 2-36, 3-49, 4-74, 5-102, 6-123, 7-129, 8-139 Bowling: S Sreesanth 4-0-29-3, IK Pathan 4-1-23-1, PP Chawla 4-0-33-2, VRV Singh 4-0-15-1, Yuvraj Singh 2-0-14-0, JR Hopes 2-0-22-0