Bengaluru: After the rapid batting of Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis, the good performance of the bowlers led by Harshal Patel (three wickets for 32 runs) helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 match here on Sunday. Defeated the Royals by seven runs. Taking an aggressive approach, Maxwell hit six fours and four sixes during his innings of 77 runs in 44 balls. Du Plessis supported him well, hitting eight fours and two sixes in his 39-ball 62.
Both shared a 127-run partnership for the third wicket in just 66 balls, which helped RCB score 189 runs for nine wickets. The team then restricted Rajasthan Royals to 182 for six. While this is Bengaluru’s fourth win in seven matches, it is Rajasthan’s third defeat in as many matches. Apart from Harshal’s three wickets for RCB, David Willey and Mohammad Siraj got one success each. Willie gave 26 runs in four overs while Siraj gave 39 runs.
For Rajasthan, Devdutt Padikkal had put the team in a good position by sharing 98 runs for the second wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal, with an inning of 52 runs in 34 balls, but the team lost the rhythm after the partnership was broken. Padikkal hit seven fours and a six while Jaiswal hit five fours and two sixes during his 37-ball 47. In the last over, Dhruv Jurel scored an unbeaten 34 off 16 balls but he did not get good support from the other end. Earlier, apart from du Plessis and Maxwell, only Dinesh Karthik (16 off 13 balls) could score runs in double figures for RCB.
Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma took two wickets each for Rajasthan while Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin got one success each. Chasing the target, Rajasthan got a big blow in the first over itself. Siraj bowled Jos Buttler without opening the account. In the opening batting, Butler’s partner Jaiswal did not let the pressure dominate by hitting three fours from the second to the fourth over. From the other end, Devdutt Padikkal justified the decision to send Vijaykumar Vaishakh to bat at number three with three fours in the fifth over.
Jaiswal hit the first six against Maxwell in the sixth over, which took the team’s score to 47 for one in the power play. After this, Padikkal Harshal and Jaiswal increased the trouble of RCB by sending Maxwell’s ball to the audience. Padikkal completed his half-century in 30 balls by taking a single against Hasaranga in the 11th over. He was caught by Kohli in the next over trying to play a big shot against David Willey. ACB bowlers now focused on tight bowling and under pressure to increase the required run rate, Jaiswal returned to the pavilion by catching Kohli off Harshal.
Rajasthan now needed 82 runs in the last six overs and captain Sanju Samson (22 off 15 balls) hit a four and a six against Hasranga but was caught by Shahbaz Nadeem off Harshal in the next over. While Shimron Hetmyer was struggling to score runs at the crease, Dhruv Jurel welcomed Willey with a six in the 18th over after hitting two fours against Siraj in the 17th over. At the same over, however, Rajasthan suffered a major setback due to Hetmyer’s run out. Suyash Prabhudesai scattered the stumps in one stroke after stopping the ball in the cover region.
Ravichandran Ashwin (12 runs in six balls) along with Jurel struggled in the last over but could not take the team across the target. After winning the toss and electing to bowl, Boult got off to a fine start by dismissing Bengaluru’s stand-in captain Kohli (0) in the first ball and Shahbaz (two runs) in the third over. However, it did not make any difference to du Plessis and Maxwell and both batted fearlessly and hit fours and sixes. Du Plessis hit two fours against Sandeep in the second over and hit two spectacular sixes against this bowler in the fourth over.
Maxwell, on the other hand, hit four boundaries against Boult in the third and fifth overs. He hit a four and a six against Ashwin, which helped Royal Challengers Bangalore score 62 for two in the power play. Maxwell continued the aggressive approach and sent Chahal’s ball to the visitors on the reverse sweep. He completed his half-century in 27 balls with a six off Jason Holder in the 10th over. Du Plessis completed the century partnership by taking one run against Boult in the 12th over and then completed his fifty in 31 balls with fours. Yashasvi Jaiswal ran out du Plessis in the 14th over after hitting the ball straight to the wicket after brilliant fielding. In the next over, Ashwin gave Rajasthan a big breakthrough by walking Maxwell.
Maxwell’s reverse shot went straight into the hands of Holder. After taking two big wickets in two overs, the Rajasthan bowlers started to get hold of the match. Chahal sent Mahipal Lomror (eight runs) to the pavilion in the 17th over, while Suyash Prabhudesai was run out without opening the account. In the last over, Sandeep dismissed Dinesh Karthik (16 runs) and Vijaykumar Vaishakh (0) in consecutive balls to keep RCB within 190 runs. Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma took two wickets each for Rajasthan while Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin got one success each.
