RCB continue their outstanding campaign and inch closer to a berth in playoffs. On Wednesday, Virat Kohli’s men gained two points afted defeating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in Dubai to stay ahead of the mid-table traffic.
Yuzvendra Chahal’s excellent bowling display helped RCB restrict RR to a below-par total on a very good batting surface, while Glenn Maxwell finished things off with fifty off 30 balls. The Challengers now sit comfortably at third place with 14 points to their name and even have a chance at finishing in the top two.
RCB decided to bowl first after winning the toss. RR duo of Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal got the team off to a flying start, smashing 56 in the powerplay. They played some delightful strokes before their opening stand of 77 was broken when Jaiswal (31 off 22) failed to clear mid-off. The Royals brought 100 up in 11 overs and were looking set for a huge total.
But Lewis top-edged a pull off George Garton to end his brilliant knock on 58 off 37. After his dismissal, RR lost Mahipal Lomror (3), Sanju Samson (19 off 15) and Rahul Tewatia in the next three overs as they were reduced to 117/5 in 14 overs.
Liam Livingstone, who was in the sublime form before the UAE leg, couldn’t get going as he smashed a tossed up delivery off Chahal straight to long-on. Chris Morris scored 14 off 11 as RR fell one short of 150.
Some poor batting from RR batters and an excellent choke applied by RCB bowlers meant RR fell from 100/1 in 11 overs to 149/9 in 20. Chahal returned impressive figures of 2/18 in his four overs while Harshal Patel picked 3/31, and Shahbaz Ahmed claimed 2/10 in his two.
Chasing the target, the RCB opening duo of Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal resumed where they left off against RR the last time they faced. They added 48 runs in just 5.1 overs before Padikkal was cleaned up by Mustafizur Rahman, trying a wild hoick on 22 off 17. In the next over, an excellent fielding display from Riyan Parag and a direct hit saw Kohli (25 off 20) short of his crease at the non-striker’s end.
With the scoreboard reading 58/2 in seven overs, there was still a lot of work to do. KS Bharat and Maxwell slowly built the partnership and added 69 runs in 55 balls for the third wicket. Bharat’s good innings of 44 off 35 ended when he pulled Mustafizur’s delivery straight to fine leg.
Maxwell took charge and smashed 22 runs off Morris in the next over to register his fourth fifty of the IPL 2021. AB de Villiers scored the winning runs as he swept Parag to deep square leg boundary.
Chahal was named the ‘Player of the match’ for his match-defining spell. The losing side RR will need to win all three of their remaining games while improving net run-rate and depending on the other results.
RR will next face Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi on Saturday evening, while RCB will take on Punjab Kings at Sharjah on Sunday afternoon.
Brief Scores
Rajasthan Royals – 149/9 in 20 overs (Lewis 58, Jaiswal 31; Patel 3/31, Chahal 2/18)
Royal Challengers Bangalore – 153/3 in 17.1 overs (Maxwell 50*, Bharat 44; Rahman 2/20) won by seven wickets.
