Royals in trouble
That partnership was crucial. KKR had lost Phil Salt in the fourth over, as Avesh Khan provided the breakthrough for Royals in stunning fashion. He brought o£ a superb one-handed return catch o£ his own bowling, showing good re¤ex to pluck the ball that was hit with some power.
Avesh may not have been the happiest Royals man with that dismissal, though. That would have been Riyan Parag, who had dropped an easy catch from Salt at backwardpoint o£ Trent Boult. That was just the second ball of the innings.
Narine and Raghuvanshi, however, went on to frustrate the Royals bowlers, until the latter lashed hard at the short, wide ball from Kuldeep Sen only to nd R. Ashwin at third-man.
It took a ne yorker from Trent Boult to end Narine’s remarkable innings. 11
Jurel b Avesh 13
Singh (not out) 20
Venkatesh Iyer c Jurel b Kuldeep Sen 8 (6b, 1x4), Ramandeep Singh (not out) 1 (1b); Extras (b-4, lb-4, w-13): 21; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 223.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-21 (Salt, 3.3 overs), 2-106 (Raghuvanshi, 10.4), 3-133 (Shreyas, 12.6), 4-184 (Russell, 16.1), 5-195 (Narine, 17.3), 6-215 (Venkatesh, 19.2).
ROYALS BOWLING
Boult 4-0-31-1, Avesh 4-0-35-2, Kuldeep Sen 4-0-46-2, Chahal 4-0-54-1, Ashwin 4-0-49-0 Toss: Royals.
RR was 125 for six in 13 overs with Buttler (40) and Powell (1) at the crease. Jaiswal (19), Samson (12), Parag (34), Jurel (2), Ashwin (8) and Hetmyer (0) were out
Maxwell feels it’s time to fly away from it all.
Glenn Maxwell made an admirably honest admission when asked if he missed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Monday due to tness concerns.
As it turns out, Maxwell, who has struggled with his form, requested the RCB team management to give him a “mental and physical break”.
“It was a pretty easy decision. I went to Faf (du Plessis) and the coaches after the last game and said it was probably time we tried someone else.
“I have been in this situation in the past where you can keep playing and get yourself deeper into a hole. Now is actually a
good time for me to get a bit of a mental and physical break; get my body right. If I’m required to get in during the tournament, I can hopefully get back into a really solid mental and physical space where I can still have an impact,” Maxwell stated after RCB went down to SRH here on Monday.
“We have had a pretty big deciency straight after the PowerPlay, which has been my area of strength over the last couple of seasons. I felt like I wasn’t contributing in a positive way with the bat, and with the results and the position we nd ourselves on the table, I think it’s a good time to give someone else an opportunity to show their wares. Hopefully, someone can make that spot their own,” Maxwell added.