Bowlers, Maxwell set up big win for Bangalore
Australian anchors chase with fifty after Rajasthan Royals are restricted to 149 despite good start
MUMBAI: When Sanju Samson hit a six off Yuzvendra Chahal’s last ball of the 11th over to take Rajasthan Royals to 100/1, their fans, even in a worst case scenario, wouldn’t have imagined what was about to unfold. The next over, Virat Kohli brought on debutant George Garton more in hope. Evin Lewis was on strike. The left-handed opener had taken Garton to the cleaners in his second over, hitting 18 runs with two sixes and a four. The left-arm pacer had figures of 2-21-0. With Samson also starting brightly, the pressure was on Royal Challengers Bangalore. To the delight of the RCB dugout, Lewis looked to pull Garton’s first ball and got a thick top-edge for keeper KS Bharat to take a fine running catch.
From there on, the Royals innings imploded. From 100/1, they finished on 149/9, which RCB chased down effortlessly in 17.1 overs with seven wickets to spare. The win helped RCB move to 14 points after 11 games. Royals remain on eight points and seventh in the standings.
The turning point of the game was Kohli’s move to use Garton for just one over. From the 13th over onwards, he employed a doublespin attack of Yuzvendra Chahal and left-armer Shabaz Ahmed. Instead of playing their normal game, the Royals batsmen approached the innings with the sole aim of cashing in on an excellent start provided by the openers. It proved disastrous. Three wickets fell in eight balls, including the in-form Samson.
Mahipal Lomror started the procession by charging out to Chahal to be stumped off the fifth ball in the 13th over. At the other end, Shahbaz picked Samson first ball. The Royals captain picked up the deep cover fielder Devdutt Padikkal in an attempt to go for his third six. Shahbaz had his second wicket of the over when Rahul Tewatia swept uppishly to deep backward square-leg.
The two spinners kept up the pressure with three, six and three runs in overs 15, 16 and 17. They had picked four wickets in six overs, giving away only 28 runs. At 91/1 in 10 overs, the Royals had looked set to sail past 180. When Chahal ended his four-over spell in the 17th over, they were limping at 129/6. The leg-spinner, who is using the second leg to make a statement after being ignored in India’s T20 World Cup squad, finished with superb figures of 4-0-18-2.
Royals still had their most expensive buy, the big-hitting Chris Morris, and Riyan Parag, at the crease to cash in on the slog overs. But Harshal Patel bowled an outstanding last over to take out the two off successive balls. He added one more off the last ball to finish with three wickets for three runs.
It was a disappointing finish for Royals after the electric start provided by Lewis. He capitalised on field restrictions in the first six overs, powering his team to 56 for no loss, scoring 41 off 21 balls. With his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (31 off 22 balls) also playing some extravagant strokes, RR had an opening partnership of 77 in 8.1 overs.
RCB’s chase was set up by Kohli. He took 12 and 14 runs from the first two overs, smashing five overs. He started with three fours off Chris Morris and picked up two more off Kartik Tyagi. RCB were 26 for no loss after two overs with the captain scoring 18 off them. Chetan Sakarariya bowled a quiet over to Padikkal before the lefthander opened up against Mustafizur Rehman with two fours.
Mustafizur made a comeback in his second over when he clean bowled Devdutt. But at 54/1 after six overs, RCB had neutralised Royals’ start. A brilliant piece of fielding by Riyan Parag ended Kohli’s fine innings when he made a diving stop at backward point and effected a direct hit.
Srikar Bharat and Glenn Maxwell, however, batted sensibly to build a partnership. After 15 overs, they had taken RCB to 123/2. Mustafizur provided Royals some hope by claiming the wicket of Bharat in the 16th over, but Maxwell took 22 runs in the next over off Chris Morris to finish the game. The Australian reached his fifty off 30 balls. Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 149/9 in 20 overs (E Lewis 58, Y Jaiswal 31, H Patel 3/34, Y Chahal 2/18, S Ahmed 2/10) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 153/3 in 17.1 overs (S Bharat 44, G Maxwell 50*, M Rahman 2/20) by 7 wickets.