Rajasthan Royals suffered a humbling 112-run defeat in match 60 of IPL 2023, which was held in Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Chasing a target of 172 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan were bowled out for only 59 runs, recording the third-lowest total in the history of the competition.
Bangalore started exactly how they meant to go on, with an in-form Yashavi Jaiswal having a rare bad day at the office, departing without adding anything to his team’s tally. To make matters worse for the hosts, Wayne Parnell bowled an exceptional second over, wherein he dismissed not one, but a couple of Rajasthan’s batting kingpins, in skipper Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler.
Being sent to steady the ship as an impact player, Devdutt Padikkal could barely have an impact, as he scored just four runs before losing his wicket to Michael Bracewell. An over later, Parnell added a third scalp to his name, by trapping Joe Root leg before wicket.
The procession of wickets continued with Dhruv Jurel becoming Bracewell’s second victim, although whilst it once seemed Rajasthan might register the tournament lowest total ever, such an occurrence was prevented by Shimron Hetmyer’s solitary retaliation efforts.
IPL 2023: Wayne Parnell picked up three wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
(Photo: BCCI)
Having scored 35 runs in 19 deliveries, he was dismissed by Glenn Maxwell, whereas the tail of Ravichandran Ashwin, Adam Zampa, Sandeep Sharma and KM Asif combined to score all but a couple of runs.
Twin Fifties, Anuj Rawat’s Cameo Powered Bangalore to 171
The visitors’ start was pretty much on expected lines, as Virat Kohli and du Plessis were more inclined towards setting up a foundation for what is a somewhat fragile middle-order, as opposed to going gung-ho right from the beginning.
The first three overs yielded only 17 runs, and whilst a boundary and a maximum off Adam Zampa’s bowling did result in a spike in the scoring rate, the visitors could only accumulate 42 runs in the powerplay, albeit without losing any wickets.
IPL 2023: KM Asif gave Rajasthan Royals their first breakthrough by dismissing Virat Kohli.
(Photo: BCCI)
However, just when they were preparing for an alteration in batting approach, Bangalore suffered a setback, with Kohli losing his wicket to an efficaciously disguised knuckle-ball by KM Asif.
Alongside an in-form Glenn Maxwell, RCB’s skipper kept the scoreboard ticking – offering the necessary respect to spinners on what is a tricky track for the batter, whilst also ensuring the odd bad deliveries were dispatched beyond the boundary ropes.
With both batters having got their eyes in, the momentum switched in the 13th over, wherein Sandeep Sharma conceded 12 runs. Rajasthan, although, were successful in pulling things back very soon, with Asif coming to their rescue by dismissing du Plessis a couple of overs later.
To rub salt into the wounds, Adam Zampa returned to the attack and bowled a terrific 16th over, wherein he dismissed both Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik. At the other end, Maxwell continued playing the big shots, bringing up his second consecutive half-century in the next over.
IPL 2023: Anuj Rawat scored 29 runs in only 11 deliveries.
(Photo: BCCI)
The scales had all but tipped in Rajasthan’s favour by the penultimate over, but Anuj Rawat brought his team right back in the hunt with excellent stroke play in the last over, which produced 18 runs.
Courtesy of his 11-ball 29, which included three fours and a couple of sixes, Bangalore managed to set a target of 172 runs for last season’s runners-up to chase down.
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