RCB secure thrilling 7-run win over Rajasthan Royals

In a highly exciting encounter between the Rajasthan Royals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore, it was the latter who won their green day game by 7 runs, thanks to the collective brilliance of the top-order and their bowlers, who held their nerve under pressure.

Sanju Samson won the toss and put RCB into bat and the hosts were rocked early with Virat Kohli (0) sent back for a first-ball duck. An experiment with Shabhaz Ahmed (2) at no.3 didn’t work either as he too was dismissed by seamer Trent Boult.

Under early pressure at 12/2, it was yet again saviours Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis who joined forces and put on a 127-run partnership off just 67 runs to give RCB the upper hand. However, just as it seemed like the pair were going to accelerate further into the slog overs, a direct hit from Yashasvi Jaiswal cut short du Plessis’s (62) stay, and the RCB skipper departed after his 5th half-century.  Maxwell, who was at his dashing best in the whole game was also dismissed a little more than an over later, offering a catch to Jason Holder off R Ashwin after a jaw-dropping 77 run knock off 44 balls that came with six fours and four sixes.

Post du Plessis and Maxwell’s wickets, RCB failed to accelerate and put on just 33 runs in the last five overs. Former RCB star Yuzvendra Chahal registered figures of 4-0-28-1 to lead the Rajasthan Royals bowling unit.

Defending 190, Mohammed Siraj was right on the money and got the crowd on their feet by knocking out Jos Buttler’s middle stump to remove the dangerous opener for a duck. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal did manage to put on a fight as the two added 98 runs for the second wicket, but eventually, a 100th IPL catch for Kohli sent Padikkal on his way and a few balls later, Yashasvi Jaiswal followed. 

Shimron Hetmyer couldn’t go for long as Suyash Prabhudessai’s direct him ran him out for 3 while Harshal Patel claimed his second wicket in the form of Sanju Samson (22).

Ravichandran Ashwin started well but got out for 12 runs with Harshal picking up his 3rd, leaving an uphill task for Dhruv Jurel. Jurel did fight hard but it wasn’t enough to win the game for the Rajasthan Royals as RCB secured a 7-run win to extend their points tally to 8.