Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets at Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai and registered their sixth win of the tournament while Rajasthan suffered their sixth loss.
Earlier Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bat first. Robin Uthappa opened the innings for the first time and gave a good start. Ben Stokes' poor run continued and he got out for just 15 runs off Morris bowling. Uthappa played some big shots and got out for 41 runs 22 balls off Chahal bowling and on the next ball Samson also gifted his wicket and at 69/3 Rajasthan Royals was in trouble.
Steve Smith and Jos Buttler rebuilt the innings and took the score to over 120 runs but Buttler failed once again and could score only 24 runs. Steven Smith changed his gears in the end and brought up his fifty. His 57 runs and Tewatia's 19* runs helped Rajasthan to post a good total of 177/6 on board.
In reply Royal Challengers Bangalore didn't start well as out of form Aaron Finch failed once again. Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli added 79 runs for the second wicket but both batsmen couldn't score quick runs and then got out on consecutive balls and at 102/3 in 14th over Bangalore was in trouble. In the last four overs, Bangalore needed 54 runs to win and 35 in the last 2 overs.
Jaydev Unadkat bowled the 19th over and AB de Villiers smashed him for 3 back to back sixes and set the match for a thrilling finish. In the last, over of Jofra Archer, Bangalore needed 10 runs and 5 runs off the last 3 balls and then de Villiers hit a six and took his team. Man of the Match AB de Villiers scored 55* runs off 22 balls.
All the major stats and facts from the 33rd match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Dubai :
12 - AB de Villiers scored his fifty in just 22 balls - it was his 12th IPL fifty in 25 or fewer balls - the joint-most IPL fifties in 25 or fewer balls.
Most 50s scores in 25 or fewer balls in IPL -
12 - AB de Villiers / David Warner
7 - Chris Gayle / Kieron Pollard
6 - Virender Sehwag
16 - Yuzvendra Chahal has taken 16 wickets against Rajasthan Royals in IPL - the joint third-most by any bowler.
Most wickets against RR in IPL -
30 - Amit Mishra
21 - Piyush Chawla
16 - Yuzvendra Chahal
16 - Ravindra Jadeja
16 - R Ashwin
40 - AB de Villiers became the third batsman to score 40 fifty-plus scores in the Indian Premier League.
Most fifty-plus scores in IPL -
50 - David Warner
43 - Virat Kohli
40 - AB de Villiers / Shikhar Dhawan
39 - Suresh Raina / Rohit Sharma
36 - Gautam Gambhir
35 - Chris Gayle
40 - AB de Villiers received his 40th Man of the Match award in T20 cricket - only Chris Gayle (58) has more Man of the Match awards than him.
Most Man of the Match awards in T20 cricket -
58 - Chris Gayle
40 - AB de Villiers
38 - Shane Watson
34 - Shahid Afridi
33 - David Warner / Luke Wright / Kieron Pollard
648 - Runs AB de Villiers has scored against Rajasthan Royals in IPL - the most by any batsman.
Most runs against RR in IPL -
648 - AB de Villiers
609 - Suresh Raina
547 - Shikhar Dhawan
519 - Dinesh Karthik
490 - Rohit Sharma
2017 - Ben Stokes hasn't scored a fifty-plus score in the Indian Premier League since 2017. He has gone 28 innings without scoring a fifty in the IPL since then.
4000 - AB de Villiers when on 46, completed 4000 runs for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL - the second batsman after Kohli (5759) to achieve this feat.
AB de Villiers for RCB in IPL -
Matches - 135
Innings - 125
Runs - 4009
Average - 42.64
Strike rate - 161.39
Best - 133*
100 - 2
50 - 34
Sixes - 218
