A typical Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) performance, some horrendous batting, resulted in them losing their second consecutive game in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, owing to a batting failure against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 29 runs on Tuesday at MCA Stadium in Pune.
After some brilliant work by the bowling unit, RCB chased a modest 145, which looked relatively few, given their batting prowess. But as has been the pattern over the years, RCB imploded.
Virat Kohli opened along with captain Faf du Plessis and never looked like himself. He was lucky when Daryl Mitchell caught a bump ball off Trent Boult's bowling early in his innings. Prasidh Krishna troubled him in the next over and eventually got him off a bouncer.
Dinesh Karthik came with the scorecard reading 66/5 in 11.4 overs. RCB were in the game with DK's red hot-form, but a moment of madness from Shahbaz Ahmed resulted in a comedy of errors getting Karthik, in red-hot form, run-out.
Ravichandran Ashwin ended his magic spell with figures of 3/17 in 4 overs, scalping a struggling Ahmed in his last over. While, Kuldeep Sen starred with his spell of 4/20 in 3.3 overs.
Riyan Parag guides Rajasthan to a respectable total
You expect a Jos Buttler masterclass when you hear about the 'Royal Derby' this season. However, the Orange Cap holder failed to continue with his purple patch.
The disaster struck RR when Josh Hazlewood got Buttler caught at mid-on for the partly score of 8, his first single-digit score in IPL 2022.
Ashwin scored a quickfire 17 runs but was undone by the pace of Mohammed Siraj, who took a brilliant catch off his bowling.
Skipper Sanju Samson got another start by striking Ahmed for back-to-back sixes but falling ridiculously to Wanindu Hasaranga, continuing his bad form against the Lankan spinner.
With the top three RR batters gone, the onus fell on Mitchell and youngster Parag to score big. Then, with his side tottering at 102/6, Parag took this opportunity by both hands and finished the innings with flourish, striking 18 runs off Harshal Patel in the last over.
For an excellent knock of 56* off 31 deliveries and only his 2nd IPL fifty, Parag was adjudged the 'Player of the Match'.
This win means Rajasthan shoots to the top of table with 12 points replacing Gujarat Titans (GT), who will play Sunrisers Hyderabad in top of a table clash on Wednesday. RCB are out of the top four at the moment and will be playing the Titans on the weekend.
Brief Scores -
Rajasthan Royals- 144/8 (20)
Riyan Parag 56* (31), Samson 27 (21)
Hazlewood 2/19 (4), Hasaranga 2/23(4)
Royal Challengers Bangalore- 115/10 (19.3)
Faf Du Plessis 23 (21), Hasaranga 18 (13)
R Ashwin 3/17 (4), Kuldeep Sen 4/20 (3.3)