Shreyas Gopal Claims Hat-Trick In Rain-Marred Match Against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal weaved his magic in the rain-marred match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to claim a hat-trick for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 match on Tuesday. It was the second hat-trick in the IPL 2019, the first was claimed by young Sam Curran against Delhi Capitals on April 2. Gopal, featuring in his fifth IPL season, ran through the hosts' top-order to dismiss the hard-hitting trio of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Marcus Stoinis, in that order.

The 25-year-old led the fightback for the visitors after Kohli smashed 25 runs off seven balls in the match which was reduced to five overs per side. Gopal then got rid of Kohli's opening partner de Villiers for 10 and one-down batsman Marcus Stoinis for a duck.    

Gopal finished with the figures of three for 12, the best by a Rajasthan Royals bowler in the match. His effort saw the Bangalore outfit slump from 35/1 to 61/7 in five overs. 

Rajsthan Royals had won the toss and opted to field but rain returned to delay the start of the game by three hours and thirty minutes. 

The game finally began after a long delay, courtesy a commendable effort from the ground staff which readied the ground following multiple spells of heavy rain. 

Curran had cleaned up the Delhi Capitals tail in his death overs spell to bundle them out for 152 runs and help the hosts clinch victory by 14 runs.

Curran bagged the wickets of Harshal Patel in the final delivery of the 18th over which was followed by two unplayable yorkers to get rid of Kagiso Rabada and Sandeep Lamichhane respectively.

Curran is only two IPL matches old. He claimed two wickets for 52 runs in the first match against Rajasthan Royals.