An all round performance by Rajasthan Royals (RR) helped them defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) by 59 runs at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Bangalore decided to bowl first and kept the run rate under check till the 13th over. Rajasthan who could score only 83-1 in 13 overs and anything around 140-150 was looking on the cards. But a sudden assault by Ajinkya Rahane and Owais Shah from then on helped their side post an imposing 195.
In reply, Bangalore tried hard but then a superb bowling performance by Rajasthan bowlers never allowed them to settle and bowled them out for 136.
Here are some of the hits and flops of the match:
Rajasthan Royals
Hits:
Ajinkya Rahane: Rahane who missed out on the first century of the season in their first match by two runs made it count yesterday. He scored an unbeaten 103 from 60 balls which included 12 fours and five sixes. Rahane who could not get off the hook till the 13th over started on the attack from the 14th over when he minced 24 runs from Sreenath Aravind’s third over which included six boundaries of six balls. It was this over that saw the beginning of something extra-ordinary. After that there was nothing stopping him and he raced off to his century, the first in this year’s IPL. Rahane who already had the Orange cap now has consolidated his position at the top of the run chart and his blitzkrieg yesterday earned him the man of the match as well.
Owais Shah: His knock was equally important and held same significance as Rahane. If Rahane scored at a strike rate of 171.66 then Shah’s scored at a strike rate of 230.76. He scored 60 off 26 balls which included five and as many sixes.
Siddharth Trivedi: The bowling department as a whole kept it tight and never allowed Challengers to settle. But it was Trivedi’s who performance was the most significant as he scalped four wickets by giving away 25 runs.
Flops:
The whole team performed like a unit and hardly did anyone flop as such.
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Mayank Aggarwal: He started off with a bang and hit a six off the first ball of their RCB innings. It was only he who could entertain the crowd that came to see the match between their home team versus their local boy Rahul Dravid who is the captain of RR. He looked destructive early on in the innings and scored 34 of 21 balls which included three sixes and three fours. Till he was at the crease it looked like RCB would post a challenge but after his departure, things became very difficult for them and they could not get into the match.
Flops;
Sreenath Aravind: He already went for 24 in his first two overs, but Daniel Vettori decided to bring him in the 14thover of the match. Trivedi, who replaced Raju Bhatkal was hit for six consecutive fours in that over which opened the floodgates for RR. The over which yielded 24 runs changed the whole course of the game.
Bowling department as a whole: The whole bowling except for the experienced duo of Zaheer Khan and skipper Vettori gave away runs at an economy rate of right runs per over.
Batting line up: Mayank Aggarwal was the only batsmen who could do some justice or else the star studded batting line of Bangalore which includes the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle faltered big time. They could not perform on a day it was most required off them. The target was challenging but not unachievable. And if anyone of them had played to their capability, the target could have been achieved.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News
