In the 13th match of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeats Rajasthan Royals (RR) by four wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
After winning the toss, Faf du Plessis asked RR to bat first and as it happens at the Wankhede, the pitch looked good to bat on. Despite just losing three wickets in the entire innings, RR was looking a bit quiet with the weapon in their hand. The team ended up with just 169/3, thanks to Jos Buttler (70*) who once again showed up to the occasion. The current Aramco Orange Cap holder smashed six 6’s at a strike rate of 148.94. Along with him, Hetmyer’s (42) knock helped RR to reach a respectable score.
In the second innings, the Challengers from Bangalore looked to follow what the Royals did in the first inning and take the down to the last ball. RCB started reasonably well as both the openers, Faf Du Plessis (29) and Anuj Rawat (26) put up 55 runs of partnership which laid the foundation for the next batsmen. But it’s the IPL and here twists and turns always take place. Soon after the powerplay, RCB lost a series of wickets and were 87/5 in the 13th over. At this stage, everyone must’ve thought that the game will go down the wire but Dinesh Karthik (44) had some other plans. The veteran batsman had no intentions of slowing the run rate down as he hammered seven boundaries and one 6 all around the park. Along with him, Shahbaz Ahmed (45) made sure that RCB gets those two points. The duo smashed 67 together. RCB chased down the total in 19.1 overs.
Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey and Harshal Patel, all share one wicket each. Other than this there was not much on display from the RCB’s bowlers. For RR, it was Trent Boult and Yuzvendra Chahal‘s magic that kept the Jaipur based team in the hunt for two points.
RCB have bagged four points in the kitty now and will look to continue this effort further. Meanwhile, RR suffered their first loss of the season.
Scorecard:
Rajasthan Royals: 169/3, Overs 20, Jos Buttler 70*, Harshal Patel 1/18
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 173/6, Overs 19.1, Shahbaz Ahmed 45, Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15