Royal Challengers Bangalore climbed to 12 points in the Indian Premier League, courtesy a power-packed show by the mainstays in the 33rd match of the Indian Premier League 2020. AB de Villiers steadied the ship and brought impetus to the innings at a time when the Bangalore side lost two quick wickets in the chase. His six to wrap up a win also brought his fifty off just 22 balls on a track where most other batsmen struggled to get going. Skipper Virat Kohli made a 32-ball 43 while Devdutt Padikkal provided a good start yet again, thanks to his handy 35 off 37 balls.
Uthappa flourishes in his favourite slot, Morris bags four-fer
A target of 178 looked more than competitive. Robin Uthappa opened the innings for the first time and delivered with a 22-ball 41. However, he kept losing partners at the other end as the Royals were 69/3 at one stage. Steve Smith broke the duck by hitting a timely fifty and stitched a stand with Jos Buttler in the middle.
Smith found the ropes on six occasions apart from hitting a six in his 36-ball 57 before Chris Morris sent him back to the hut. Morris was impressive as he returned with figures of 4/26 with a dozen of dot ball under his belt.
Captain Steve Smith’s tactics under the scanner as RCB win big
Rajasthan probably missed a trick by not closing on the match by bowling Jofra Archer in the 19th over. Jaydev Unadkat, who has the dubious reputation of being a run-leaker, didn’t help himself as he was smacked for three consecutive sixes by AB de Villiers. When Unadkat had finished with it, 25 runs had already been leaked off the19th over which essentially took the game away from the Royals.
With 10 runs to wrap up the contest in the last over, Archer kept the game alive till the third ball before de Villiers tonked a maximum to provide a fitting finish to the game.
It seemed like RCB learned from their mistake in the previous game and didn't hold back de Villiers which paid a rich dividend. Rajasthan ticked almost all the boxes and were favourites to pocket two points till the very end of the game. Smith defended the move by stating that he wanted to use Unadkat to the bigger boundary.
With a sureshot win slipping out of their hands, Royals have a lot of thinking to do as the possibility of cementing a playoff berth is slipping away with every defeat in this crucial phase of the tournament.
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