It was the battle of two most struggling teams in IPL 2019, as Rajasthan Royals locked horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 14th match of the showpiece tournament at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Tuesday (April 2).
After being put into bat by RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane, RCB rode on Parthiv Patel’s 41-ball 67 and Marcus Stoinis’ unbeaten 31 off 28 balls to post 158/4 in 20 overs. For Rajasthan, leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal was the stand-out bowler, claiming three wickets for 12 runs in his 4 overs. RCB’s big names such as Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer were the victims of Gopal.
In reply, RR got off to a brilliant start as Jos Buttler and Rahane added 60 runs for the opening wicket in 7.4 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal trapped the RR captain plumb in front on 22 which led to Steve Smith’s arrival at the crease. Buttler along with Smith then stitched 44 runs and in the process he completed his first fifty of this year’s IPL.
Chahal removed Buttler on 59 to give some hope to the visiting team. But the pair of Smith and Rahul Tripathi didn’t panic with RR still requiring 55 runs off 44 balls. The duo batted sensibly and shared a 50-run stand to bring the team on the verge of victory before Smith fell in the penultimate over off Mohammed Siraj on 38.
Needing 5 runs in the final over, Tripathi smashed Umesh Yadav over deep mid-wicket for a maximum to seal the deal for Rajasthan with 7 wickets and a ball to spare.
Twitter experts were impressed with Rajasthan Royals’ improved showing in this match while they were critical of RCB’s yet another lacklustre performance.
Here are some of the reactions:
