Same Old, Same Old: Middle Order Leaves RCB in Trouble as Zampa Strike Twice
Zampa removed Lomror, DK in an over (AP Photo)
Royal Challengers Bangalore's middle order batters again fail to come to the rescue as the Rajasthan Royals puncture the opposition's hopes in a virtual quarterfinal on Friday. Despite a riveting stand between Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell, it never looked that the RCB will take off, and the RR bowlers took advantage of it.
KM Asif, in his penultimate over, got rid of RCB's skipper Du Plessis on 55 off 44 deliveries, followed up with Adam Zampa's twin-wicket over.
Zampa struck twice
Coming in in place of Trent Boult, the wily Australian leg-spinner started with the new ball, but his best came in his third spell of day, where he first removed Mahipal Lomror on a flighted googly, before trapping Dinesh Karthik in front of the stumps.
From being at 119/1 to 120/4, those couple of overs pushed the Royal Challengers on the back foot in their mission to notch a fighting total.
Zampa, eventually, ended his day with the figures of 2 for 25 after his four overs.
Following the mini-collapse, Maxwell did amass a couple of lusty blows but his day with the day was ended by Sandeep Sharma.
At the moment, Bangalore are at 143-5 after 18 overs, with Michael Bracewell and Anuj Rawat at the crease. The duo would need to go after the Rajasthan bowlers in the remaining overs if RCB want to finish off on a high.
 "Arjun Bhalla")
