After being asked to bat first, Rajasthan Royals raised a mammoth total of 217/4 – the highest total of IPL 2018 to knock the wind out of RCB’s sail at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. RCB playing in green was bashed by the young wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson who ended up with 92 not out from 45 balls with 2 boundaries and 10 high-flying sixes. Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers with his four overs going for 2/22.
Rajasthan Royal persisted opening with D’Arcy Short, a move which will be questioned after this match, were slow at the start. It was Ajinkya Rahane’s little injury that helped in opening up and he started scoring quick against the RCB bowling. There was a dull patch in the match once Rahane got out.
D’Arcy Short was caught by keeper on the bowling of Chahal for only 11 off 17 balls. Ben Stokes failed to continue the momentum. He tried smashing a few boundaries but eventually, he was snapped up by Chahal as he was bowled on 27 runs in 21 balls. Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson then set about rebuilding the innings.
While Stokes and Buttler held one end, Samson was continuously deposition the white ball over the boundary ropes. He kept the run-rate above 9 and took the opportunity to hit a six whenever it present one. Rajasthan Royals ultimately managed to score 88 runs in the last five overs.
The last over which went for 27 runs was bowled by Umesh Yadav who had destroyed Punjab in the last match at the same ground. Rahul Tripathi, batting at number six smashed the second ball of the last over for a six. Next ball was carted for a four.
It went even worse from there. Next ball was a good slower one from Umesh, which went only for a single but he had overstepped. The cardinal mistake gave a free-hit to Samson who really did not need one. He slammed the free hit for a six and not being content with that only, he slammed another six on the next ball. With the last ball going for one run, RR ended up with 217/4.
A top-heavy RCB needs a miracle from any of Kock, McCullum, Kohli and ABD to chase down this Mount Everest.
