They restricted Rajasthan to 149/9 and then followed it up with a clinical bowling performance as Royal Challengers Bangalore strengthened their chances of qualifying for the IPL 2021 play-offs, with a seven-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday night in Dubai.
With Glenn Maxwell scoring a half century, RCB chased down the target with 17 balls to spare which now also helps their Net Run Rate as they continue to be placed third in the IPL standings.
Rajasthan Royals' campaign has taken a bit hit with this defeat as they remain in the seventh spot with eight points from 11 matches.
Bangalore's chase got off to a flying start as Virat Kohli slammed Chris Morris for three boundaries in the opening over. Devdutt Padikkal crunched Kartik Tyagi for two boundaries in the second over before slamming Mustafizur Rahman for a brace of boundaries in the next over.
Bangalore were 48 for no loss in five overs before Padikkal, dropped at six, swung across the line, only for Rahman to disturb the stumps. In the next over, Kohli tried to sneak a run on a misfield by Riyan Parag at backward point. But a direct hit from Parag caught Kohli short of the crease at non-striker's end.
KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell then stitched a stand of 69 runs for the third wicket. The duo smashed boundaries while rotating the strike, which kept the asking rate under check. Bharat was more impressive of the two, slog-sweeping Chris Morris for a big six before playing a gentle reverse sweep off Rahul Tewatia.
Rahman broke the partnership in the 16th over as Bharat pulled to fine leg. After his dismissal, Maxwell whipped Morris for a six over mid-wicket followed by three fours, the last of which brought up his fifty in 30 balls. AB de Villiers finished off the chase with a sweep through square leg off Parag to seal an easy win.
Earlier, Rajasthan suffered a spectacular batting meltdown to end at a below-par score of 149/9 in 20 overs. From 100/1 in eleven overs, they lost the next eight wickets for 49 runs in the last nine overs to squander hopes of a big total.
Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal slammed seven boundaries between each other to take Rajasthan to 56/0 in the power-play. Five of those boundaries belonged to Lewis, who was the more aggressive of the two.
Lewis smacked debutant George Garton for two pulled sixes on either side of a cut through backward point in the fourth over. Lewis picked Harshal Patel for a four and six in the fifth over to bring the half-century of the partnership.
Post the power-play, Jaiswal went after Dan Christian, slamming him for two fours in the seventh over. Jaiswal started the ninth over by whacking Christian for a six over extra cover. But the all-rounder had the last laugh as Jaiswal mistimed to mid-off on the next ball, ending the opening stand at 77.
Lewis reached his half-century in 31 balls with a pull through square leg. Garton had his first wicket of the IPL in the 12th over with Lewis top-edging a pull to keeper KS Bharat. Mahipal Lomror's promotion to four ended cheaply with Yuzvendra Chahal getting him stumped.
Wickets continued to tumble for Rajasthan as Samson holed to deep cover off Shahbaz Ahmed. Five balls later, Ahmed had his second wicket of the over as Rahul Tewatia top-edged a sweep to deep backward square leg.
Chahal has his second wicket of the match as Liam Livingstone holed out to long-on in the 17th over. Patel came back in the final over to take out Riyan Parag and Chris Morris on consecutive deliveries before dismissing Chetan Sakariya on the final ball to complete a Rajasthan implosion.
(With inputs from IANS)
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