When it comes to RCB, one of their main mottos has always been to give opportunity to the youth of the country. One such name to arrive from that same train of thought is none other than Anuj Rawat, a young wicket-keeper who also has some sensational striking capacity. Rawat has already shown his brilliance in a few games, putting logic behind RCB’s decision to invest in the youngster’s talent.

As part of IPL 2023, Rajasthan Royals had a taste of Rawat’s skill as he hammered an unbeaten 29 off just 11 balls in Jaipur, propelling RCB to 171 despite a slowdown in the middle after the departure of Glenn Maxwell. As we celebrate the 24th birthday of the hard-hitting southpaw, here’s a glance at how he once defied the formidable bowling unit of Mumbai Indians to usher RCB to a fine victory.

It was in 2022 when the Royal Challengers Bangalore was playing at the MCA Stadium and they were up against the Mumbai Indians. The RCB bowlers did a pretty fine task of restricting MI to 151/6, despite a late flourish from Suryakumar Yadav.

One of RCB’s main problems in that season was their top-order that had continuously faltered until then. Against MI, despite getting off to a fine start, courtesy of Rawat, RCB’s chase encountered a similar obstacle where they lost Faf early for a paltry 16. However, the start that Rawat got was more than enough for the youngster to garner courage and get going against the opposition.

With Virat Kohli for company, Rawat navigated the dangers of Mumbai’s bowling attack pretty deftly and ensured the fact that the runs kept on coming at a pretty breezy manner despite the surface being a tricky one to master.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t take RCB across the finish line but ensured the fact that he did enough to seize the day for the Royal Challengers. He smashed 66 from 47 balls, hammering two fours and six sixes as RCB secured a clinical win by 7 wickets.