Rajasthan Royals had continued their winning run as they had defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thriller by four wickets in the penultimate ball of the match. Sanju Samson was the star for Rajasthan as he smashed 63 off just 41 balls and overshadowed the equally brilliant performance of Shane Watson who scored 41 runs and picked up three wickets as well. Brad Hodge played a cameo of 32 runs which took the match away from RCB.
Here we bring to you the Hits and flops from the match between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
HITS
Sanju Samson: Sanju Samson played a sensational knock of 63 runs off just 41 balls. He smashed seven boundaries and one six. It was his brilliant counter-attack because of which RR made a fantastic comeback to clinch this thriller.
Shane Watson: Watson was simply outstanding not just with the bat but with the ball too. He picked up three wickets and gave away just 22 runs in his four overs. He picked up the two big wickets of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli. He scored terrific 41 runs off 31 balls to keep the balance in favour of RR.
Chris Gayle: Gayle started off really well but couldn’t continue his attack for long as Watson got him out in the fourth over. He smashed six fours and one six in his knock of 34 runs off just 16 balls. He remained the highest scorer even after being dismissed so early.
Virat Kohli: Kohli started off cautiously and was looking in good touch. But somehow he slowed down mid-way which made him look very rusty all of a sudden. This sudden slowing of things created some intense pressure on him under which he crumbled and got out after scoring 32 runs off 35 balls.
Brad Hodge: Hodge was once again at his best as he played a cameo of 32 runs off just 18 balls. It was his innings that made all the difference in the end as he smashed those huge sixes in final overs. He smashed one four and two sixes in his knock and was rotating the strike really well with Watson.
FLOPS
James Faulkner: Faulkner was smashed in his final over for 22 runs which made him end up with the figures of 0/ 42 in his four overs. He didn’t use the slow bouncers and was bowling in batsman’s arch and got smacked for three sixes in the final over of the innings.
Ajit Chandila: Chandila didn’t live up to the expectation and gave away 39 runs in his four overs. He was expected to pick up wickets but rather he conceded six boundaries in his spell.
Vinay Kumar: Kumar was thrashed for 39 runs in his 3.5 overs. He wasn’t allowed to settle down first by Sanju and later on by Watson as they kept hitting him for fours. Though he clicked with the gat and smacked 22 runs in last over and helped RCB post a impossible target.
Saurabh Tiwary: Tiwary wasn't in his best form as he found it hard to score boundaries. He is expected to play those little cameos that can help RCB prople the score towards the end, but he failed to do so when his team required him to do it against Rajasthan.
Murali Kartik: He was brutally thrashed for back to back sixes in his first two deliveries that he bowled to Samson. He bowled just one dot ball in his spell of three overs. This kind of below-par performance is not expected from player of his class.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network
