Bengaluru: Rajasthan Royals Ben Stokes with team mates celebrates after taking catch off Royal Challengers Bangalore's Brendon McCullam during the IPL 2018 cricket match at Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. PTI Photo by Shailendra Bhojak (PTI4_15_2018_000195B) On Sunday, in the battle of ‘Battle Royale’ Rajasthan Royals triumphed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs at Bengaluru. The match lived up to its billing and Royals dismantled RCB with precision and Ajinkya Rahane proved his mettle over Indian skipper Virat Kohli. This match was RCB’s ‘Go Green’ initiative, but Royals didn’t show any goodwill and won their second consecutive match.
Let’s have a look at 5 turning points from this ‘Battle Royale’:
1. Ajinkya Rahane’s uncharacteristic knock:
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Rajasthan Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane has already a lot on his plate and has not scored enough in the first two matches. Coming into this match questions were raised over Rahane’s temperament and his feasibility as a T20 player, but Royals skipper proved his critics wrong and struck 36 off 20 balls. With Australian import D’Arcy Short struggling at the other end, Rahane batted a with a leg injury and gave Royals a fast start.
2. Sanju Samson’s coming of age innings:
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Kerala batsman Sanju Samson doesn’t come across as a dynamic or exciting T20 player and most often goes under the radar. But against RCB, Samson was in full flow and scored an unbeaten 92 off 45 balls, hitting 10 sixes and helped RR get over 200. Samson relied on timing and placement and showed his class and range.
After the match, Virat Kohli also praised Samson’s knock and if young Samson keeps his head down then Indian selection will be just a matter of time.
3. RCB’s bowling fails under pressure:
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RCB skipper Virat Kohli before the start of the tournament had said that this bowling attack is quite balanced and sorted. But, RCB bowlers were taken to task and gave away 141 runs in the last 10 overs. Umesh Yadav, Chris Woakes, who have played international cricket were taken to cleaners and gave 30-40 runs too many in the slog overs and made batting side’s job much more difficult.
4. Virat Kohli cannot bail out RCB every time:
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Virat Kohli is a marvellous batsman and a modern-day chase master but is not a robot and he also needs help from the other end once in a while. Kohli scored 57 off just 30 balls and was playing excellent cricket, but after his dismissal, RCB lost their way and couldn’t get the required runs.
The opening pair of Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock are struggling and maybe its time to drop Kiwi legend. Royal Challengers Bangalore have all the arsenal in the world but have to take accountability and play smart cricket under pressure.
5. Royals bowlers executing their plans:
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Royals knew they had 218 runs to defend but also knew that RCB has got a great batting line up and the match was not over. Indian seamer Jaydev Unadkat started well and spinners despite being below par had combined figures of 4/68 in nine overs. Rajasthan bowlers bowled well with scoreboard pressure and defeated RCB and showed that their bowling is also quite competent.