In the 43rd match of the VIVO IPL 2021, Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. Contributions from Srikar Bharat and Glenn Maxwell were more than enough for RCB to register their second victory of phase 2.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and chose to field. The RCB bowlers were getting butchered by the Rajasthan Royals’ openers. RCB finally managed to get a breakthrough in the ninth over after the opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed on Daniel Christian’s bowling. After the first wicket, the Bangalore-based franchise pocketed wickets at regular intervals and restricted RR to a reasonable total of 149. RCB got a decent start in the run chase, the openers stitched a partnership of 48 in the powerplay. Devdutt Padikkal (22) and Virat Kohli (25) were dismissed in consecutive overs. After Kohli’s run-out, Bangalore was looking in trouble as they lost two quick wickets. The two new batsmen Srikar Bharat and Glenn Maxwell stirred RCB’s ship in the run chase with a sensible partnership of 69 runs. Bharat was dismissed in the 16th over while playing the pull shot in Mustafizur Rahman’s over. With 23 needed over the last four overs, Maxwell smashed 22 off the Chris Morris over. AB De Villiers finished the proceedings with a boundary in the following over and RCB earned two more valuable points.
Evin Lewis (58) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (31) were the major contributors with the bat for RR in the first innings. The openers notched a partnership of 77 runs for the first wicket. The Rajasthan-based franchise lost wickets frequently and couldn’t sustain the momentum throughout the innings.
The in-form Harshal Patel was yet again the star with the ball for RCB, he had three scalps to his name. Yuzvendra Chahal and Shahbaz Ahmed pocketed two wickets each while George Garton and Daniel Christian had one wicket each. For RR, Mustafizur was the sole wicket-taker, who had two wickets to his name.
Following the fixture, RCB retained their third spot with 14 points while RR acquired the seventh position with eight points. Yuzvendra Chahal was adjudged Man of the Match for his economic spell of 2/18.
Scorecard:
Rajasthan Royals: 149/9, Overs 20, Evin Lewis (58), Yashasvi Jaiswal (31), Harshal Patel (3/34)
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 153/3, Overs 17.1, Glenn Maxwell (50*), Srikar Bharat (44), Mustafizur Rahman (2/20)