In the 52nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), Bangalore bowled well to restrict Rajasthan to 164 for five in their allotted 20 overs at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, on Saturday.
After winning the toss, Ajinkya Rahane opted to bat first and made a bold decision by promoting English player Jofra Archer (0 runs off 4 balls) as an opener. However, the decision soon backfired as Jofra departed without scoring a run.
Following Jofra’s departure, skipper Ajinkya Rahane (33 runs off 20 deliveries) joined Rahul Tripathi at the crease and added 101 runs partnership for Rajasthan before getting bowled by Umesh Yadav.
After Rahane’s dismissal, Sanju Samson (0 runs off 1 balls) joined Tripathi at the crease but was sent back by Umesh Yadav for a golden duck.
In the 14th overs of the game, Star Royal Challengers pacer Umesh Yadav brought RCB back into the game by sending two Rajasthan batters back to stands in the same over.
After two back-to-back wickets of Rahane and Samson, South Africa’s wicket-keeper batsman Heinrich Klaasen (32 runs 21 balls), along with Rahul Tripathi, took charge of Rajasthan’s innings. However, it was too late as Rajasthan had already lost the plot.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals opener Rahul Tripathi scored his third IPL fifty.
From RCB camp, star pacer Umesh Yadav bowled exceptionally well. Yadav took three wickets in his four overs and conceded 25 runs. Mohammed Siraj took one wicket.
Fall of wickets:
Rajasthan: 2-1 (Jofra Archer, 1.4), 101-2 (Ajinkya Rahane, 13.1), 101-3 (Sanju Samson, 13.2), 149-4 (Heinrich Klaasen, 18.6), 164-5 (Krishnappa Gowtham, 20)
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Rahul Tripathi, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Sanju Samson, Heinrich Klaasen(w), Stuart Binny, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Ben Laughlin
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Parthiv Patel(w), Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Moeen Ali, Colin de Grandhomme, Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal