The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) kissed their playoff hopes goodbye after losing to the Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan won the toss and surprisingly decided to bat first. Having a lot to lose, they opted to experiment with their openers. In other words, RR sent out Jofra Archer with Rahul Tripathi. Archer went out for a duck, having faced 4 balls and skipper Ajinkya Rahane took to the crease. Tripathi and Rahane set up a decent partnership before the latter was sent back for an LBW for 33 runs.
The same player that mentor Shane Warne was gushing over, Sanju Samson, was dismissed for a first ball duck. Fortunately, Heinrich Klaasen struck another 32 runs before perishing and Krishnappa Gowtham had a 14 run cameo. In the end, Tripathi’s unbeaten 80 and the various contributions set up a total of 164.
via Imago
Rahul Tripathi
Under normal circumstances, 164 is an achievable target, especially for a batsman-oriented Bangalore team. But this match told a different story, skipper Virat Kohli was sent back to the dugout for 4 runs. Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers plodded on until Patel was stumped out for 33. Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme were dismissed almost in quick succession for 1, 3 and 2 runs respectively. Sarfaraz Khan lasted for 7 runs and Tim Southee struck another 14. Umesh Yadav went for a first ball duck and Mohammed Siraj managed another 14 runs. Yuzvendra Chahal was the last man standing with 0 runs to his name and RCB fell 30 runs short.
Umesh Yadav and Shreyas Gopal were the star bowlers for their respective teams with Yadav bagging 3 and Gopal bagging 4 wickets. As a bonus, Gopal’s economy rate was only 4.00 from his 4 overs. With Gowtham claiming Kohli’s wicket, Gopal tore through the rest of the top order. He even teamed up with Klaasen to dismiss Patel and de Villiers.
