After over three hours of rain delay, when the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals in Bengaluru got underway, the spectators were in for a treat.
Rajasthan leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal took a memorable hat-trick, helping Rajasthan Royals limit Royal Challengers Bangalore to 62 for seven in a five overs a side shootout at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
In the second over of the match, the local boy removed Kohli and de Villiers off successive balls before sending back Marcus Stoinis for a memorable hat-trick.
This is the second instance of a hat-trick in this season of the IPL after Sam Curran registered the first hat-trick of IPL 2019 against Delhi Capitals.
Earlier, Royals had won the toss and opted to field before rain delayed the start of the game by three hours and thirty minutes.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli (25 off 7) was on fire from ball one, depositing pacer Varun Aaron for a straight six. Kohli smashined Aaron for another six before AB de Villiers (10 off 4) got into the act as the first over went for 23 runs.
Before being dismissed, Kohli hit a six and a four of Shreyas in the first two balls before holding out to the mid-wicket boundary.
AB De Villiers was dismissed in the very next ball as he tried to hit a big shot but was caught inside the circle by Riyan Parag. Marcus Stoinis then hit the next ball straight to Steve Smith at the edge of the circle to hand Gopal his third wicket of the game.
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