After completing their Chennai leg with 100% success, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) braced for their run of fixtures at the Wankhede with the first opponent being the struggling Rajasthan Royals.
Toss and Team News
Following a brief confusion at the toss, Virat Kohli opted to field first. Rajat Patidar was dropped to include Kane Richardson in the playing eleven.
Sanju Samson also introduced a change to the team that faced a tame defeat at the hands of CSK. Shreyas Gopal, featuring an impeccable record against RCB, Virat Kohli, and AB de Villiers in particular, was roped in place of Jaydev Unadkat.
RR march to a respectable total after a top-order collapse
RR’s top-order crisis continued as they imploded once again at the Wankhede. Jos Buttler (8) was the first to fall by being bowled by the rejuvenated Mohammad Siraj.
Manan Vohra (7) once again got out to a rash shot. Siraj (3-27) struck once more in the powerplay with a scorching yorker that caught Miller (0) right on the toe for an LBW. The three wickets pegged back RR pretty hard as they only scored 32 in the powerplay.
Skipper Samson (21) fell victim to a soft dismissal. Washington Sundar (1-23) came back in style after conceding a six off the very first delivery of the spell, and send the skipper back to the pavilion.
Poised at 43-4, Riyan Parag (25) and Shivam Dube (46) began the rebuild for the Royals in the middle overs. They spurred the run rate in a 66-run stand before Harshal Patel (3-47) entered into the attack and delivered the vital breakthrough.
Dube missed out on his first IPL fifty courtesy of a composed catch by Maxwell in the deep.
A cameo by Rahul Tewatia (40) sparked up the closing phase of the innings but RCB’s in-form death bowling unit polished the lower order to finish the innings at 177-9 in their 20 overs.
RCB coast to win by 10 wickets
Chasing a below-par target considering how the pitch played out in the first innings, RCB rocked to a sensational start by their opening pair.
Virat Kohli (72) played second fiddle as Devdutt Padikkal (101) struck the RR bowlers all around the park. The duo racked up 59 runs in the powerplay as RR failed to break the opening stand.
The left-handed opener brought up his fifty in 27 balls and the skipper at the other hand took his time after initially struggling to time and connect the ball.
As Padikkal continued to bat in cruise mode, Kohli also found his rhythm subsequently to bring up his 40th IPL fifty. In the process, he also became the first player to reach 6000 runs in the IPL.
The duo recorded the highest ever first wicket partnership in franchise history. Devdutt Padikkal capped off his destructive knock by converting it into his first hundred in the competition. He reached the three-figure mark in 51 deliveries as RCB finished the chase in the 17th over and secured the win by 10 wickets.
Brief Scorecard:
RR 177-9 (20 overs) (S.Dube 46; M.Siraj 2-27)
RCB 181-0 (16.3 overs) (D.Padikkal 101*; C.Sakariya 0-35)
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