Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by seven wickets in the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Tuesday. With this loss, RCB have now suffered defeats in their first four matches of this year's edition of the IPL.
In pursuit of 159 runs, Rajasthan got off to a flying start as Jos Buttler hammered the visitors. The opener kept on scoring regular boundaries to keep the asking rate in check. The skipper Ajinkya Rahane played second fiddle to Buttler as he kept on rotating the strike.
Rajasthan had scored 55 runs in the first six overs. Rahane and Buttler stitched together a partnership of 60 runs. Virat Kohli, the skipper of RCB introduced Yuzvendra Chahal to get the much-needed breakthrough, and the bowler did not disappoint as he trapped Rahane right in front, dismissing him for 22.
Buttler kept on going on his merry way and he found support in Steve Smith and the duo stitched a quickfire stand of 44 runs to take the team to a comfortable position in the chase of 159. The right-handed Buttler bought up his fifty in the 11th over of the innings and as a result of this knock, he registered his fourth consecutive fifty-plus score at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Chahal once again provided the key breakthrough for RCB as he dismissed the dangerous Buttler (59) in the 13th over of the innings, with Royals still requiring 55 more runs to win.
Rahul Tripathi came out to bat at number four, and he along with Smith ensured that Rajasthan does not suffer from any more hiccups. The duo put up a partnership of 50 runs, taking the team closer to the victory. Smith was dismissed in the penultimate over by Mohammad Siraj, with the team still requiring 5 more runs for the win.
Tripathi and Ben Stokes ensured the victory for Rajasthan in the final over as they won the match by seven wickets. Tripathi and Stokes remained unbeaten on 34 and 1 respectively.
Earlier, Parthiv Patel's knock of 67 and 31 not out from Marcus Stoinis enabled Royal Challengers Bangalore to post 158 runs for the loss of four wickets after they were asked to bat first.
RCB opener's Kohli and Parthiv stitched together a partnership of 49 runs giving the team a solid foundation at the top. Both these batsmen mixed caution with aggression to play sensibly within the first six overs.
But RCB failed to capitalise on their solid start as Shreyas Gopal provided Rajasthan with the big breakthroughs dismissing Kohli (23), AB de Villiers (13) and Shimron Hetmyer (1) in quick succession bringing the hosts back into the match.
Parthiv and Stoinis in the middle retrieved the innings for RCB. Both these batsmen stitched a 53-run partnership, which saw Parthiv smashing one six and nine boundaries. Jofra Archer finally dismissed the left-hander for 67.
Stoinis then found support in Moeen Ali and the duo added 32 runs together in the final 2.4 overs. Both the batsmen made sure that RCB posts a competitive total on the board. Stoinis and Ali remained unbeaten on 31 and 18 respectively.
Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Kolkata Knight Riders in their next match on April 05 whereas Rajasthan Royals will face Kolkata Knight Riders on April 07.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 164/3 (JC Buttler 59, SPD Smith 38, YS Chahal 2-17) defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore 158/4 (PA Patel 67, MP Stoinis 31*, S Gopal 3-12) by seven wickets.
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