Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday in the evening and registered their third win of the tournament.
Earlier Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bat first. Jos Buttler gave a quick start by hitting three fours and one six but at the other end captain Smith got out off Udana bowling and in the next over Buttler was dismissed by Saini and again in the next over Chahal sent Samson back to the dressing room and at 31/3 Royals were in deep trouble.
Robin Uthappa and Mahipal Lomror rebuilt the innings and took the score to 70 runs but Chahal once again broke this stand by removing Uthappa. Lomror continued to play some shots and his 47 runs knock and cameos from Rahul Tewatia and Jofra Archer helped Rajasthan Royals to post a fighting total of 154/6 on board.
In reply Royal Challengers Bangalore also had a poor start and Finch got out cheaply but after that Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli took the charge into their hands and both batsmen went on to play shots and their 99 runs partnership set the match in Bangalore's favor.
Both the batsmen also notched up their respective fifties. In the end, Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down the target in the last over with 8 wickets in hand. Captain Kohli played 72* runs knock while Padikkal scored 63 runs.
All the major stats and facts from the 15th match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals in Abu Dhabi :
1 - Devdutt Padikkal is the first-ever batsman to score fifty-plus scores in three of the first four innings in the Indian Premier League.
Devdutt Padikkal in IPL -
56 vs SRH
1 vs KXIP
54 vs MI
63 vs RR
9 - This was Royal Challengers Bangalore's 9th win against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
Most wins for RCB in IPL -
14 vs DC
12 vs KXIP
10 vs KKR / MI
9 vs RR
8 vs CSK
20.83 - Sanju Samson's batting average against Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL. He has scored only 250 runs in 13 innings with the highest score of 92*.
33 - Shreyas Gopal has taken 33 wickets for Rajasthan Royals in IPL - the joint fifth-most by any bowler.
Most wickets for RR in IPL -
65 - Siddharth Trivedi
61 - Shane Watson
57 - Shane Warne
47 - James Faulkner
33 - Shreyas Gopal / Kevon Cooper / Munaf Patel
42 - Virat Kohli scored his 42nd fifty-plus score in Indian Premier League and only David Warner has more fifty-plus scores than him.
Most fifty-plus scores in IPL -
48 - David Warner
42 - Virat Kohli
39 - Rohit Sharma / Suresh Raina
38 - AB de Villiers
37 - Shikhar Dhawan
2015 - This is Royal Challengers Bangalore's first win over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League since 2015.