RCB clinched a 9-wicket victory against RR in the Royals clash at the Sawai Man Singh stadium. RR set the target of 174, which was chased comfortably by RCB within 18 overs. Rajasthan Royals (RR) fans would be quite distraught, given it was the first game at Jaipur this season.
Cautious Batting
RR lost only 4 wickets in the entire innings, but couldn’t capitalize on it. Despite not losing any wickets in the powerplay, they scored only 45 runs. Sanju Samson struggled to time the ball in the early overs and lost his wicket ( 15 off 19 ) in the 7th over to Krunal Pandya
Other batters who came took some time to settle in the crease and were not able to create big overs in the middle. Yashashvi Jaiswal scored a fine knock ( 75 off 47 ) in the 16th over. He was not there in the death overs to accelerate.
Riyan Parag got a good start but couldn’t convert it into a big innings. This was his story in this whole season. Hetmyer failed to execute his fireworks in the death overs. Dhruv Jurel played a decent knock which helped RR to post a fighting total.
With losing just 4 wickets, RR fell short of 20 to 25 runs in the end, and RCB chased the target with more than 2 overs to spare.
Phil Salt’s onslaught
While chasing 174, RCB opener Phil Salt gave an explosive start in the powerplay by taking on their best bowler, Jofra Archer, in the very first over. He dominated the entire powerplay as RCB scored 65 runs and were unscathed and put RCB in the driver’s seat. Kohli and Padikkal took forward the momentum created by him and finished the match comfortably.
Phil Salt demolished 65 runs off just 33 balls and set the tone for the chase.
Catches win matches
This is one of the oldest proverbs in cricket. Virat Kohli was dropped by Riyan Parag in the 4th over of the match. Had he caught that, Things could have changed and RR would have been in a position to put pressure on RCB batters. You can’t drop a player like Kohli, especially while chasing. Virat was dropped on 7 runs by Riyan Parag at long on the bowling of Sandeep Sharma
The “Chase master” made sure they paid the cost for dropping. He stood in the middle and converted it into a match-winning half-century. Virat Kohli then played an unbeaten knock of 62 runs in 45 balls and smashed 4 fours and 2 sixes.