SCORECARD | POINTS TABLE | SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Chasing 150 to win, RCB overcame a little stutter to cruise home with more than two overs to spare to boost their hopes of finishing in the top two of the playoff bracket.
Here are the big highlights from the match:
Rajasthan Royals Innings
Lewis, Jaiswal gave Rajasthan a flying start: The Royals’ openers Evin Lewis (58 off 37 balls) and Yashasvi Jaiswal got their team off to a confident start, setting up a foundation of 77 runs in 8.1 overs, after which the latter was dismissed by Daniel Christian for 31 off 22 balls. This gave RR a good platform to launch a big total from.
(Wagon wheel of Evin Lewis’s knock)
Chahal’s spell and Shahbaz’s double-wicket over derailed RR: The match turned when spin came to RCB’s rescue in the middle overs. Yuzvendra Chahal (2/18) and Shahbaz Ahmed (2/10) took the fizz out of the RR innings. The spin twins bowled measly spells, highlighted by two wickets in the same over by Ahmed. The left-arm spinner dismissed Sanju Samson (19) and Rahul Tewatia (2) in the 14th over.
From 100/1, RR innings went downhill: The RR middle-order failed to capitalise on the solid foundation laid by the openers. The innings touched the 100-run mark in the 11th over and was looking good to reach 170 at least, but that didn’t happen. After the RCB spinners tightened the noose with regular wickets, Harshal Patel performed the finishing act with three wickets in the 20th over to end up with figures of 3/34. The overall RCB bowling performance restricted RR to 149/9 — a total that was unlikely to challenge the RCB batting line-up too much.
Royal Challengers Bangalore Innings
Quick start by Kohli and Padikkal: RCB openers Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal added a quickfire 48. Padikkal (22 off 17 balls), however, had to take the long walk back in the sixth and last over of Powerplay, cleaned up by Mustafizur Rahman.
Parag ran Kohli out with a direct hit: Kohli (25 off 20 balls) looked set to play a captain’s knock after getting a start, but Riyan Parag pulled off a brilliant play in the field to find the RCB skipper short of the crease with a direct hit. In the space of 10 runs, RCB lost both their openers and were in need of urgent repair.
(Wagon wheel of Glenn Maxwell‘s knock)
Bharat-Maxwell stand rescued RCB: RCB needed a partnership and a 69-run stand for the third wicket between KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell took them out of trouble. Once in, Maxwell took the RR bowlers on, including hitting Chris Morris for 22 runs in an over. The Australian remained unbeaten on 50 off just 30 balls, while wicketkeeper-batsman Bharat scored 44 off 35 before being dismissed by Mustafizur. But that was too little too late.
RCB overhauled the target with 2.5 overs to spare to collect the two points and further consolidate the third position on the points table with 14 points after 11 matches.
(Wagon wheel of KS Bharat’s knock)
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