The 32nd match of the IPL 2023 saw Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeating table toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a closely fought encounter on April 23, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
RR captain Sanju Samson won the toss and chose to bowl first, a decision that was proven right by Trent Boult, who dismissed Virat Kohli, who was captaining RCB, for a duck first ball and then accounted for Shahbaz Ahmed inside the powerplay overs.
Faf du Plessis (62) and Glenn Maxwell (77) then consolidated the innings with a 127-run partnership for the third wicket as RCB posted a good total of 189/9 in 20 overs in the end. Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma picked two wickets each for Rajasthan.
In reply, Mohammed Siraj gave RCB the best start as he clean-bowled Jos Buttler for a duck on the second ball of RR’s first over. But then Yashasvi Jaiswal (47) and Devdutt Padikkal (52) added 98 runs for the second wicket.
However, RCB did well to break the partnership soon with Virat Kohli taking the catches of both batters. Sanju Samson played a quick 22-run knock, but as things started to get a bit uneasy in the chase, Dhruv Jurel showed his class with 16-ball 34*.
Unfortunately for RR, in the last over, where they needed 20 runs, R Ashwin hit 2 fours and scored 10 runs in the first three balls.
But after his dismissal, Dhruv Jurel couldn't get onto the strike until the very last ball, when the game was gone.
RR finished on 182/6 and lost the match by 7 runs. Harshal Patel, who came in as an impact substitute was the best bowler with 3/32 in 4 overs.
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After this loss, RR remains at the top position on the IPL 2023 points table, but now there are 6 teams on 8 points each with RCB moving to 5th place.
The cricket fraternity lauded the RCB team for a complete performance over the Rajasthan team.
Here are the tweets:
