Royals encounter ended up in an one sided battle
Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six wickets in yesterday’s IPL 2024 game at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Sent into bat, RCB put 183-3 in their 20 overs, with Virat Kohli smashing an unbeaten 113 off 72. However, RR chased the target in 19.1 overs, with Jos Buttler hammering 100* off 58. With their latest win, their fourth in as many games, Rajasthan Royals moved atop the points table, while Royal Challengers Bengaluru are eighth, with one win in five games.
Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson chased the total very easily
Chasing 184, RR lost Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck, top-edging a short ball from Reece Topley to mid-off. Buttler and captain Sanju Samson (69 off 42), though, put their team in command, adding 148 for the second wicket. After a decent and slow start, Buttler took on Mayank Dagar in the last over of the powerplay, hammering him for three fours and a six. The boundaries kept flowing from both ends as the Royals reached 95-1 at the halfway stage. In the 11th over, Samson went after Dagar, slamming the left-arm spinner for a six and two fours, also going past his half-century in the process.
Riyan Parag got out very early
The brilliant stand ended when Samson hooked a well-directed bouncer from Mohammed Siraj to deep backward square leg. Riyan Parag (4) registered a rare failure, clipping Yash Dayal to Kohli at short midwicket. Dhruv Jurel (2) was strangled down leg by Topley, but Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer (11*) ensured that there was no twist in the tale. The former brought up his hundred and the winning runs by pulling Cameron Green to deep square leg for a maximum.
Virat Kohli’s magnificent ton in vain
Earlier, it was the same old story for RCB with the bat, as Kohli single-handedly lifted them to a decent total of 183-3. The former captain and current skipper Faf du Plessis (44 off 33) added 125 for the first wicket in 14 overs. However, the South African struggled to break free, hitting only two fours and as many sixes. Kohli brought up his fifty in the 11th over by launching Parag down the ground for a maximum. The opening stand was broken by Yuzvendra Chahal, who dismissed Du Plessis just a ball after Trent Boult had dropped the RCB skipper. The batter holed out to long-on, failing to get enough power into his stroke. Another failure for Glenn Maxwell (1) followed, as he missed a heave and was bowled by Nandre Burger. Newcomer Saurav Chauhan also perished to Chahal for 9, leaving Kohli to do all the big hitting at the end. The veteran batter tried his best, smashing Avesh Khan for three fours in the last over, but 183 proved nowhere near enough.