New Delhi: After putting up 171 on the board, Royal Challengers Bangalore managed to wrap Rajasthan Royals on 59 runs. The top-order collapse continued to the bottom as RR registered the third-lowest score ever in the IPL. Wayne Parnell picked up three wickets destroying the top order while all others contributed to the collapse.
The 112-run win is a big boost to RCB as they have the momentum as the group stage comes closer to the end. The fifties from Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell set the stage for the total and a cracking cameo by Anuj Rawat set the target of 172 for RR.
Mohammed Siraj continued his stunning stint with the new ball and dismissed in-form Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over while Parnell got Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the next over, all caught. Impact player Devdutt Paddikal was soon dismissed by offie Michael Bracewell as Siraj took a great catch and Joe Root, batting for the first time this season, became prey to Parnell’s slower yorker to get lbw.
While Shimron Hetmyer tried to fight back with his 35 off 19, hitting three consecutive sixes to Karn Sharma, wickets falling at the other end did not help his fireworks. Dhruv Jurel handed the ball to Mahipal Lomron on Bracewell’s delivery while Ravichandran Ashwin got runout even without facing a delivery.
Hetmyer got out to Glenn Maxwell, mistiming his shot and Karn Sharma returned to pick two wickets and wrap RR for 59. Parnell ended with the figures of 10/3, Bracewell and Sharma picked two wickets each while Siraj and Maxwell got one each.
In the first inning, RCB had a slow start and KM Asif’s slower delivery surprised Virat Kohli, who got dismissed for 18(19). Asif returned to break the 69-run stand between Faf and Maxwell, dismissing du Plessis for 55 off 44. In the next over, Adam Zampa got Lomror, who played a poor shot and handed the catch to Jurel and the spinner dismissed Dinesh Karthik for a duck.
While Maxwell scored 54 off 33, Anuj Rawat smashed 29* off 11 in the death overs to take RCB to 171/5. He hit a couple of sixes and three fours while Bracewell stood by his side with a run-a-ball 9*.
RCB is standing in the fifth position ahead of RR, while both teams have 12 points on the board. RR skipper Sanju Samson knows what this loss means from the qualification perspective as he said that ‘funny things’ can happen towards the end.
