Rajasthan Royals yesterday managed to knock out Royal Challengers Bangalore from the race to playoffs and kept their hopes of qualifying alive. Playing at the home ground, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, Rahane’s men snatched a 30-run win after a spectacular turnaround since at one stage RCB was cruising towards the target. RR bowling won the match for them and one man stood out.
The Karnataka leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal played the major role in knocking out the team from Bangalore. He along with New Zeland spinner Ish Sodhi broke through the middle order of RCB and stopped them short from achieving the target. The leg-spin duo combined to pick up five wickets and Gopal lead with his brilliant bowling figures of 4/16.
With RCB struggling for 98/5, there was still hope for them to win the match with AB De Villiers standing at the crease. Gopal murdered the hope as he defeated ABD in flight and turn. De Villiers’ foot was in the air for a brief while and Klaasen stumped him. The wicket proved detrimental to RCB and they went on to lose the match.
In the post-match presentation, Gopal was asked about his wickets, especially that of AB De Villiers. He honestly accepted that pitch helped him in the scheme. “You can never have a set plan for someone like ABD. So, I was a bit shocked. There was a little bit of help from the wicket. There was a little bit of spin. I kept it at the wickets and relied on my googly and flipper as much as I could,” Gopal said after picking up his Man of the Match trophy.
“Obviously feels great. We knew this game was a pressure game for us. Actually both the teams. It feels even better than the team needed me and I performed. I would not have been feeling half as better had the team lost,” Gopal said while speaking about the win.
Shreyas also spoke about his spin partner Ish Sodhi, he was all in praise. He said,“We are like brothers now. I keep picking his brains. He is wonderful with the way he puts in an effort with every ball that he bowls. There are a lot of things that I can learn from him.”
