On a hot Jaipur afternoon, the Royal Challengers Bangalore destroyed the Rajasthan Royals in one of the more ruthless demolition jobs, dismissing the hosts for 59 in just 63 balls and moving up to fifth place in the standings just one spot outside of the playoffs.
A Calm Start
Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli chose to bat first after winning the toss and making that decision, but they started off cautiously, scoring only 42 in the powerplay on a surface where even the new ball didn’t appear to come on as effectively as the batsmen would wish for. After adding fifty runs with du Plessis at a run rate just above 7rpo, Kohli was removed. The perfect tool was at the disposal of RCB to pick up the pace…
The Great Show
Glenn Maxwell got going immediately after entering the field as if playing on a different wicket. This allowed Faf to play the sheet anchor and reach his fifty while Maxwell blazed away at the other end, raising the run rate to 8rpo by the end of the 15th over, immediately following Faf’s demise. Maxwell reached fifty after only thirty balls, but he failed while attempting a reverse sweep and lamented the potential for a death-overs flourish.
The momentum change
The removal of Maxwell seems to have relieved the Royals after the wicket of du Plessis sparked the dismissals of Lomror and Dinesh Karthik by Zampa. They weren’t quite prepared for the buried jewel, though. Anuj Rawat barely had time to focus before he launched into a useful cameo, scoring 19 runs in the last over to push RCB to 171-5.
Chaos, end of the story.
It began. And it continued unabated. The players in form were Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Were. Before the game’s last hour’s anguish took hold. Yashasvi left first, followed by Buttler, both of whom caused the Royals to fall behind significantly. Samson was dismissed later in the same over by Parnell, who had earlier scalped Buttler. Even if their top three batsmen were gone, not all was yet lost.
Yet there was nothing except misery. Before another wound appeared, there was not enough time for the first one to clot. Parnell dismissed Joe Root for only 28 runs after he had previously escaped an LBW call (thanks to DRS). This gave the powerplay a total of five wickets.
The Hetmyer Show’s inevitable conclusion
Although it wasn’t the epic return you might have anticipated, it was a glimmer of hope. a glimmer of hope. While Shimron Hetmyer delivered a few strikes in his 19-ball 35, his departure served as the death knell. In the end, Rajasthan Royals suffered their second-lowest total (their lowest total being 58, also against RCB), a defeat by 112 runs. With just one league game remaining, Rajasthan is at a disadvantage in the battle for a playoff position as a result of this crushing loss.
Next, what?
On Friday, May 19, the Rajasthan Royals play the Punjab Kings in their final league match at Dharamsala after playing their final home game. After this, on Thursday, May 18, the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who still have a few games left, head to Hyderabad to play the Sunrisers Hyderabad.