Royal Challengers Bangalore made it two wins in a row as they beat Rajasthan Royals by 7 runs in Match 32 of TATA IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Faf du Plessis’ authoritative 62 off 39 and Glenn Maxwell’s blockbuster 77 off 44 helped RCB post 189/9. Harshal Patel then roared back to form with a crucial spell of 3/32 as he held his nerve in the last over and defended 20 to win the match for RCB.
Chasing 190, Rajasthan Royals didn’t get off to the best of starts as they lost Jos Buttler off the fourth ball of the match, cleaned up by Mohd. Siraj. Yashasvi Jaiswal then counter-attacked with four fours in three overs. And Devdutt Padikkal too chipped in with four well-placed fours. Jaiswal hit a huge 81m six off Maxwell as RR reached 41/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
The duo kept the runs flowing, hitting at least one boundary every over as they accumulated 51 runs off the next four overs to take RR to 92/1 at the halfway mark.
Padikkal brought up his fifty off 30 balls but he departed soon as David Willey finally provided a crucial breakthrough, having him caught at long on for 52(34).
RCB tightened things up and the pressure got to Jaiswal as he holed out in the deep for 47(37) off a slower ball from Harshal Patel. RR could manage just 16/2 in the 11-14 over phase. Samson then finally released the pressure valve hitting a four and a six off Wanindu Hasaranga and then a four against Harshal Patel. But the RCB pacer hit back hard off the next ball, having Samson caught at short third man for 22(15) as the equation read 61 needed off 24 balls.
Dhruv Jurel injected much-needed momentum as he hit two fours off Siraj and took 15 from the over. A topsy-turvy over followed as Jurel hit a six first ball off Willey but then a sensational direct-hit saw Suyash Prabhudessai run out the dangerman Shimron Hetmyer as the equation came down to 33 off 12. Siraj started off the penultimate over well giving away just five off the first four balls but then Jurel hit a flat six, flicking one over long leg for a six. A quick couple off the last ball made it 13 off the over.
With 20 needed off the last over, Ashwin top-edged a slower delivery from Harshal Patel over the keeper for a streaky four off the first ball. Ashwin dug a yorker to the leg side off the next ball and scampered through for a couple as RCB missed a run out chance. Ashwin swiped the third ball wide of short fine leg for a four to bring the equation down to 10 needed off 3. Harshal’s slower finally worked as he had Ashwin caught at deep mid-wicket off a mistimed heave.
RR sent Impact Player Abdul Basith at No 8. And he could take just a single off the pull off his first ball as the Bengaluru crowd roared. With 9 needed off the last ball, Jurel cut one straight to point for a single as RCB won by seven runs. Jurel remained unbeaten on 34 off 16.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bowl. They made one change to their starting line up as Devdutt Padikkal replaced Riyan Parag. They named Donavon Ferreira, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht, KM Asif and Abdul Basith as their substitutes.
Virat Kohli was again leading the Royal Challengers Bangalore side and they made two changes to the starting XI as David Willey and Vijaykumar Vyshak replaced Wayne Parnell and Harshal Patel. They named Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Finn Allen, Karn Sharma and Anuj Rawat as their substitutes.
Rajasthan Royals got off to a brilliant start as Trent Boult trapped Virat Kohli LBW off the first ball of the innings. Kohli missed his flick off the inswinger and was trapped right in front. He didn’t opt to review and rightly so as it was crashing onto middle and leg.
Faf du Plessis took the attacking approach straightaway and got going with a couple of fours off Sandeep Sharma in the second over. But Boult came back to jolt RCB again as he had Shahbaz Ahmed caught at mid-wicket off a short ball. Maxwell arrived and got into the groove straightaway with a couple of fours off the Boult over.
Du Plessis again took the attack to Sandeep, cracking a couple of sixes and a four via some well-timed lofted shots as RCB accumulated 16 off the fourth over. Maxwell too continued to attack Boult and hit a couple of well-placed fours to third man. Aswhin was handed the ball in the last over of the powerplay and Maxwell went after him, smacking a four and a six and taking 12 off the over as RCB reached 62/2 at the end of first six overs.
RR pulled things back a little bit in the next three overs, conceding 23 runs. Du Plessis and Maxwell then upped the scoring again as Du Plessis swung one to deep mid-wicket and cracked one over extra cover for a couple of fours and then Maxwell brought up his fifty (off 27 balls) in style with a thumping hit over long on, off Holder as RCB reached 101/2 at the halfway mark.
Maxwell smashed another six off Ashwin as the pair brought up the 100-run stand, off just 55 balls. Du Plessis then brought up his fifty, off 31 balls, trickling one to fine leg for a four as the pair took 17 runs off Boult’s final over.
The 127-run partnership was finally ended, probably the only way it could have been, as Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a brilliant direct hit from extra cover to send back du Plessis (62 off 39). The run out changed the momentum of the game.
RCB lost two in two overs as Ashwin had Maxwell (77 off 44) caught at backward point off a reverse sweep. Holder bowled a tight over to build the pressure and it paid off as Chahal had Lomror caught at long off and Suyash Prabhudessai was run out via another brilliant piece of fielding from Jaiswal in the 17th over. RCB lost their way in the last six overs as some brilliant slog-overs bowling saw RR concede just 50 runs off the last 41 balls and pick up seven wickets to restrict the home side to 189/9.
RCB introduced Harshal Patel as their Impact Player, replacing Faf du Plessis at the start of their bowling innings.
