Royal Challengers Bangalore boosted their chances of breaking into the top two with both bat and ball to register a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Wednesday. Chasing 150, RCB completed the task with 17 balls to spare. Star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell scored an unbeaten 50 off just 30 balls, while Srikar India scored 44 off 35 balls. RCB needed 71 runs off the last 10 after the RR bowlers checked the flow of runs after the dismissals of Virat Kohli (25) and Devdutt Padikkal (22). Kohli and Padikkal got the team off to a quick start as RCB scored nine runs per over in the power play.
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The Indian skipper hit three boundaries in the first over, though he was lucky that the first one flew over the slip cordon from a leading edge. However, both were dismissed after Kohli made a diving stop after falling on a good straight hit by Riyan Parag. Earlier, RCB made a spectacular comeback as Rajasthan Royals made a scintillating start with 149 for nine. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (2/10) and leg-break bowler Yuzvendra Chahal (2/18) triggered the slide in the 11th over after RR scored 100 for one. Fast bowler Harshal Patel (3/34) came close to taking a hat-trick in successive matches in the final over, but was denied by Karthik Tyagi as RR lost eight wickets for 49 runs.
Evin Lewis scored 58 off 37 balls, but he was guilty of throwing his wicket away at a crucial juncture, and so was skipper Sanju Samson (19), whose daring did not help his team. Asked to take the first strike, RR saw two quiet overs before Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal (31) decided to cut loose at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. At two for eight in two overs, RR were 39 for no loss at the end of the fourth, before crossing the fifty-run mark in the next over, with Lewis running on the offensive. Jaiswal played the first scoring shot of the day when he hit Mohammad Siraj through cover and in the next over he hit Glenn Maxwell for a big six at long on. Lewis then took over, smashing England left-arm pacer George Garten for two sixes and a four as RR scored 18 runs in the over.
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Garten was coming back into the attack after an awkward dismissal despite a very economical first over. Lewis hit another six and a four against Harshal Patel in the fifth over as RR scored a half-century. India pacer Siraj bowled the sixth over but Jaiswal hit two fours off Daniel Christian to register RR’s best opening partnership of the current season even as Kohli kept changing his bowlers frequently. Maxwell kept things tight by conceding only four runs in the next over, before Jaiswal smacked Christian for maximum extra cover.
However, Christian got the last laugh as Jaiswal misfired and failed to dismiss Siraj at mid-off. It swinged a bit early but as the innings progressed, the fast bowlers didn’t get much buy from the pitch. Lewis continued in the same vein and hit Harshal Patel for two consecutive boundaries before in-form skipper Sanju Samson went inside to hit leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal for a six in an extra over.
Garten, who was taken into the task by Lewis in his second over, came back strongly to exact revenge when he hit a big-hitter from Trinidad Sky One to complete a high catch for wicketkeeper Bharat Srikar. Samson pulls Garten for a six at deep square leg, but RR loses the plot after that, a slide off Chahal’s ball that begins with the wicket of Mahipal Lomror.
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