Rajasthan Royals defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 29 runs to register their third consecutive win at IPL 2022 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Tuesday. This is, meanwhile, RCB’s second consecutive defeat. In the last match, SunRisers Hyderabad defeated RCB by 9 wickets. With this win over RCB, RR topped the points table. 

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On Tuesday, RCB bowlers put up a brilliant performance in unison but their batters could not back their bowlers to chase down a modest 145 runs target. 

Kuldeep, Ashwin run through RCB

RCB were bowled out for 115 in 19.3 overs. Pace bowler Kuldeep Sen took four wickets while Ravichandran Ashwin scalped three. Prasidh Khan took a brace to defend a modest 144 runs total. 

On a day, when bowlers from both sides put up brilliant performances, the difference between the Royals and RCB was Riyan Parag’s unbeaten 56 off 36. The Assam batter, coming to bat at No. 6, not only held one end but also played with pace as the rest of the Royals batters could not provide support to him. 

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RCB, in their chase, got captain Faf du Plessis to score 23, the team’s highest individual score. Virat Kohli, opening the innings, fell for 9 to Prasidh. Rajat Patidar (16), Shahbaz Ahmed (17) and Wanindu Hasaranga (18) were among the four RCB batters who could reach double-figure in the match. Glenn Maxwell notched up a duck as he fell to Kuldeep Sen. Dinesh Karthik was run out by Prasidh and Yuzvendra Chahal.

In the 20th over, as Kuldeep Sen removed Harshal Patel, RR erupted into the joy of victory. 

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RCB win toss, pacers made optimum use of MCA Stadium pitch

Earlier, RCB made the optimum use of their decision to bowl first after winning the toss.

In a brilliant
display of fast bowling on a hard MCA Stadium pitch, RCB’s bowling attack
spearheaded by Mohammed Siraj ripped through the Royals’ batting attack.

Siraj was the
first to give RCB an early breakthrough when he trapped in-form batter Devdutt
Padikkal in front for lbw in the second over. He struck again in the fourth
over to rattle off the Royals by scalping the wicket of Ashwin,
who was promoted to bat at No. 3 but failed to hold the guard of his team against
Siraj’s nippy pace and swing.

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Buttler fell to Hazlewood

In the first
delivery of the fifth over, Josh Hazlewood picked up the important wicket of
Jos Buttler, who was playing RCB after scoring two successive centuries. With
Hazlewood reducing RR to 33 for 3, the Jaipur side found itself in deep
trouble.

Resistance from captain Samson

Captain Sanju
Samson provided some resistance for a while playing a 27 runs innings, which
comprised three sixes. His handy contribution proved to be crucial at the end
of the game.

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In the second
delivery of the 15th over, Hazlewood took his second wicket getting rid of
Daryl Mitchell (16 off 24). With this wicket, the Australian pacer took 10
wickets in IPL 2022 in five matches.

Riyan Parag’s bravado 

At this stage,
Riyan Parag held the fort all alone, playing an exquisite unbeaten 56 runs
innings off 31 balls. This is Parag’s highest score in IPL, and his innings
turned out to be the game-changer. He did not get any support from his fellow
batters with Hasaranga taking his second wicket of the evening by removing
dangerous Shimron Hetmyer in the 16th over.

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While Siraj,
Hazlewood and Hasaranga took two wickets apiece, Harshal Patel got one as the
pacer got Trent Bout caught by Kohli for 5 in the 18th over. Prasidh Krishna
was run out by Suyash Prabhudessai. Sri Lanka were eventually restricted to 144
for 8 in 20 overs.

But had Dinesh
Karthik not dropped in the 18th over off Harshal Patel, the pacer could have
become the third RCB bowler to take two wickets today evening.

Following Tuesday’s defeat, RCB slipped to the fifth position with 10 points from 9 matches.