Gopal keeps Royal hopes alive
Tripathi and Gopal shine as Rajasthan show Bangalore the door with emphatic win on home turf
Rajasthan Royals rode on a fine halfcentury from Rahul Tripathi, combined with leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal’s fourfor to outclass Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 30 runs and more importantly keep themselves in the hunt for a place in the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs.
With the win, Rajasthan rose to the fourth spot in the IPL tally with 14 points while RCB’s campaign has ended on a disappointing note, thanks to their inconsistent performances in this edition.
Yesterday, the visitors made a heavy weather of their chase of Rajasthan’s 164/5 to be eventually bundled out for 134 runs, with Gopal (4/16) ripping through the top order at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Gopal was complemented well by fellow spinners Krishnappa Gowtham (1/6) and Ish Sodhi (1/31) while the pace twins of Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laughlin shared the rest of the four scalps between them.
Barring AB de Villiers (53 from 35 balls; 4x7) and Parthiv Patel (33 from 21; 4x3, 6x2), none of the visiting batsmen could offer any resistance to the disciplined Rajasthan bowling as wickets kept tumbling at regular intervals.
While Gowtham started the onslaught with the wicket of skipper Virat Kohli (4) in the third over, Gopal accounted for the scalps of Parthiv, de Villiers, Moeen Ali (1) and Mandeep Singh (3) in quick succession.
Double setback
Despite the loss of two key overseas players in England’s Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, who have left for national duty, Rajasthan managed to keep up the fight and leave the tourists high and dry.
Earlier, pacer Umesh Yadav starred with three wickets to peg back the hosts, who rode on opener Tripathi’s unbeaten 58-ball 80, laced with five fours and three sixes, and cameos from skipper Ajinkya Rahane (33 from 31 balls; 4x3) and Heinrich Klassen (32 from 21; 4x3, 6x1) to put a healthy 164/5 in their 20 overs.
Failed experiment
Electing to bat after winning the toss, Rajasthan’s experiment to open with Jofra Archer backfired as the 23-year-old was dismissed for a duck by Umesh before Rahane and Tripathi resurrected the innings with a 99-run second wicket stand.
Umesh, however returned to break the partnership with the key wicket of Rahane trapped plumb in front before getting rid of rookie Sanju Samson (0) immediately.
Despite losing his partners, Tripathi continued his brilliant form with the willow and finally managed to convert his starts to a maiden fifty, and together with Klassen raised 48 runs for the fourth wicket before being separated by Mohammad Siraj in the penultimate over. Klassen’s wicket brought in Gowtham, who struck two lusty sixes to notch a 5-ball 14, to guide Rajasthan to some sort of respectability.
Kane Williamson has shown that classically elegant batsmen, too, could prosper big time in the slam-bang world of IPL cricket and former Australia batsman Dean Jones wants struggling Indians, Ajinkya Rahane and Gautam Gambhir, to take cues from the New Zealand captain.
“I did expect Williamson to do well. [David] Warner [Australia] not playing here has helped him enormously,” Jones said in Mumbai during an interaction. “Given the opportunity you take it and he has picked it with both hands and reminded everyone in the world, because it is the best T20 League in the world, how good he is.”
Jones, whose most famous Test innings was a double century he struck in stifling heat and humidity in the tied Test against India at Chennai in 1986, noted that Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Williamson has played with far more freedom and gets into a classical position before he hits the ball.
“Because of that he has built confidence. And now Sunrisers have put a lot of pressure on him, because if he hadn’t made any runs, Sunrisers would have been in lot of trouble. But he has been the glue.
“You have other guys like [Gautam] Gambhir [who quit midway as captain of Delhi Daredevils], [Ajinkya] Rahane, for example, also classical players who might be wise to give him a call, watch him and see how he has gone about getting his strike rates into 130s-140s.”
Jones, a Star Sports Select Dug-out expert, spoke at a mall here last evening to promote his book Dean Jones’ Cricket Tips, published by Westland Publications Limited.
Jones hailed the display of some youngsters in the IPL and singled out Shubhman Gill of Kolkata Knight Riders for special praise. “[He is] more of a classical player. I think Prithvi [Shaw of Delhi Daredevils] has got a couple of holes in his technique here and there and will get better,” he said.