The 31st IPL league match was played between RCB and KXIP at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah, on 15th October. Lokesh Rahul captained KXIP, and Virat Kohli led RCB.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and chose to bat first. Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch initiated the inning well and made some quick runs. In the 5th over, Padikkal got out, and KXIP got its first wicket. Kohli came to bat and added some more runs to the team's score. Aaron Finch got out in the 7th over. Washington Sundar joined Kohli to carry the inning ahead. However, except Kohli only, Shivam Dube and Chris Morris could play well. At the end of 20 overs, RCB could reach 171 at a loss of 6 wickets. Kohli made 48 runs and missed a half-century. From KXIP, Murugan Ashwin and Mohammed Shami got 2 wickets each. They set a target of 172 runs for KXIP to win the match.
The Kings XI Punjab inning was initiated by Lokesh Rahul, and Mayank Agarwal provided an excellent start to the team. They both started the inning lowly but in a few overs, got the required rhythm and played some big shots. However, Agarwal got out at a personal score of 45 runs, which he made in 25 balls. In IPL 2020 first time, KXIP included Gayle in the playing XI. He came to bat after the fall of the wicket of Agarwal. He started the inning slowly but got to the original form after a few minutes. He and Rahul played amazingly and moved the scoreboard really quickly. Rahul made 61 runs in 49 balls, and Gayle made 53 runs in 45 balls. Gayle hit a half-century in his first match of IPL 2020.
The last over of this match was the most exciting part. Yuzvendra Chahal was bowling, and Rahul and Gayle were on the pitch. They needed just 2 runs from 4 balls, but Chahal made it challenging for scoring two runs also and meanwhile, Gayle got run out. However, in the last two balls, Nicholas Pooran was on strike, and KXIP needed two runs to score when he hit a sixer and ended the match with a grand victory. Hence KXIP won the match by 8 wickets. From KXIP, Chahal was the only bowler who got a wicket. Lokesh Rahul was awarded man of the match for his inning of not out 61 runs