Picture : BCCI
The in-from RCB duo of Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell once again came to the party with the bat helped them beat Rajasthan Royals by 7 runs in a Tata IPL 2023 encounter.
Invited to bat by RR Skipper Sanju Samson , Maxwell (77 off 44 balls) and du Plessis (62 off 39 balls) shared 127 runs for the third wicket from only 66 deliveries to power RCB to 189 for 9 in 20 overs. This after Virat Kohli was dismissed first ball leg before to Trent Boult for 0 .
For RR , the start was disaster losing Jos Buttler for 0 early. Then Devdutt Padikkal (52 off 34 balls) struck his maiden fifty of the season and Yashasvi Jaiswal made 47 for a 98-run partnership for the second wicket but the Royals were lagging behind in the run chase before gaining momentum in the last five overs.
Jurel played a small cameo of 34 not out off just 16 balls (2×4; 2×6) as the Royals scored 61 runs off the last five overs, losing three wickets in the process. But they fell short by seven runs in the end, reaching to 182 for 6 in 20 overs.
Royals needed 20 runs off the final over bowled by Harshal Patel but could score only 12.
The Royals thus suffered their third defeat in seven matches but remained at the top of the points table due to a superior net run rate (0.844).
Both Padikkal and Jaiswal perished in quick succession and in that phase, RR also could not find a boundary with Willey keeping it tight.
The benefit was reaped by Patel in the 14th over, when he pegged back RR while denying Jaiswal his fifty, who hit a slow full toss straight to Kohli at long-on. Patel struck again, in the 16th over, to have Sanju Samson (22) caught by Shahbaz Ahmed with RR stumbling to 125 for 4.
Shimron Hetmyer found it tough, managing just three runs from nine balls before he was run out off a superb direct hit from Suyash Prabhudessai at extra cover.
Harshal Patel (4-0-32-3) was the pick of the RCB bowlers while David Willey (4-0-26-1) and Mohammed Siraj (4-0-39-1) also played their parts.
Match: IPL 2023, 32nd Match
Venue: Bengaluru | Date: April 23, 2023
