RR players celebrate their victory
Riyan Parag scored a half-century before the bowling unit lived up to its reputation to guide Rajasthan Royals to a 29-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Parag (56 not out in 31 balls) single-handedly scored 144 for 8 with his unbeaten half-century, his highest score. IPL, He hit three fours and four sixes in his innings.
Parag anchored RR’s lower order brilliantly and hit a four and two big sixes off Harshal Patel in the final over to take RR to a decent total after being sent into bat.
But RCB’s chase never materialized as the RR bowlers, led by young Kuldeep Sen (4/20), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/17) and Pramukh Krishna (2/23), smashed their opponents to 115 runs in 19.3 overs. But wrapped up.
Starting the innings on the first ball with two consecutive ducks, Virat Kohli Started on a cage note but lit up the stadium and raised the hopes of his fans when he hit two back-to-back boundaries Trent Boult to start your innings.
But as is happening in the tournament, Kohli once again flopped when a famous Krishna bouncer caught him in the next over.
RCB’s troubles escalated in the seventh over when Kuldeep Sen, who made it to the playing XI in place of Obed McCoy, picked up two big wickets. Faf du Plessis (23) and Glen Maxwell (0) – with consecutive balls.
But Shahbaz Ahmed somehow retained his wicket to prevent Sen from taking a hat-trick.
With RCB struggling at 38 for three in the seventh over, it was a match from here.
Indian domestic players – Rajat Patidar (16) and Suyash Prabhudesai failed miserably, leaving the daunting task of finishing the innings once again on whose shoulders. Dinesh Karthik (6).
But it was not Karthik’s day as he was run out cheaply.
Ahmed (17 off 27) was also not in his rhythm and struggled to hit the ball.
Earlier, RCB’s decision to bowl first yielded good results as they picked up wickets at regular intervals, leaving no scope for RR to build a big partnership.
Josh Hazlewood (2/19), Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (2/23) and Mohammad Siraj (2/30) took two wickets each to suppress the Royals’ batting line-up.
Devdutt Padikkal (7) and joss butler (8) failed to give RR a good start and the decision to promote Ashwin (17) also backfired.
Siraj accounted for both Padikkal and Ashwin in his successive overs, while Hazlewood picked up the all-important wicket of Butler, which was caught inches off the ground by Siraj, as the batsman failed a short delivery, leading to mid- On its pulling done.
Sanju Samson (27 off 21 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (16) tried to put on a partnership, putting on a 35-run stand for the fourth wicket, before de Silva went through the RR captain’s door as the batsman pulled through an extraordinary reverse sweep. was taken.
At 100 for 5 after 15 overs, RR’s effort to post a decent target suffered another blow. Shimron Hetmyer (3), who fell to de Silva, got caught in the deep while going for the slog sweep.
RR’s struggle can be gauged from the fact that he failed to hit boundaries for seven consecutive overs from the 12th to the 18th over. Parag finally broke it in the 19th over by picking Hazlewood over extra cover fence.
(Inputs PTI)