Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) continued their winning streak with a convincing win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 16th match of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Devdutt Padikkal slammed his first IPL hundred while skipper Virat Kohli scored a remarkable 72* as RCB dominated in the truest form, chasing the target of 177 with 21 balls to spare and ten wickets in hand against RR. Chasing a total of 178, RCB openers – Kohli and Padikkal – got off to a solid start.
Kohli smacked a six down the ground to get off the mark after RR opened the bowling with Shreyas Gopal. The leg-spinner was then hit for two fours by Padikkal and conceded ten runs after he was back to bowl the third over. The RCB duo also put Chris Morris under pressure and scored 15 off the fourth over. Padikkal started the over with two fours and Kohli ended the over in style, producing the same result.
Padikkal capitalized further and it was Mustafizur Rahman, who was at the receiving end, conceding 10 runs. The left-handed opener finished the powerplay in style with a maximum as RCB raced off to 59/0 at the end of six overs. RCB smashed 48 runs in the next four overs and it was Padikkal, who owned the explosion for RCB in the middle overs. He slammed his fifty in style with a boundary off Riyan Parag and then hit the spinner for a maximum straight over the head to end the over.
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The very next over saw Padikkal smash consecutive sixes off Rahul Tewatia’s bowling followed by yet another maximum off the left-hander’s bat in the 10th over as the hundred partnership was up for the opening wicket. Kohli took charge of the hitting after the ten-over mark and was dealing in boundaries, which also included a lofted six over long-off off the bowling of Morris.
Not only did Kohli notch up his first half-century of the season, but he also became the first batsman to score 6000 runs in IPL. The RCB skipper then hammered Shreyas Gopal for two fours and a six as the Royal Challengers were closing into the total without losing any wickets.
With just eight runs required off the final four overs, Padikkal ended the chase in style with a top-class century that proved to be the icing on the cake for RCB as they chased down the total, without losing any wicket. Earlier, RR, who were put in to bat, made one change – Shreyas Gopal replaced Jaydev Unadkat in the playing XI.
Jos Buttler struck two fours towards the leg side in the very first over off Mohammed Siraj. Manan Vohra opened his account with a four against Kyle Jamieson at the other end after the right-arm pacer troubled the opener with bounce.
However, Siraj found an early breakthrough after he disturbed the timber to dismiss Buttler. RR then lost the wickets of Manan Vohra and David Miller in the next two overs and was in early trouble. Vohra lofted the ball in the air but didn’t find the required distance to clear mid-on as Jamieson found his first wicket.
Siraj then scalped his second wicket with a toe-crushing yorker that surprised Miller after the left-hander was trapped in front and RR were 32/3 at the end of 6 overs. RR skipper Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube were the two new batsmen in the middle. Samson smacked Sundar for a maximum after RR was struggling with the scoring rate. However, the right-hander fell to a soft dismissal and was caught by Maxwell inside the circle in the same over.
The breakthrough didn’t affect Dube’s approach as the left-hander scored 19 off the Chahal over that included two huge sixes and a four. Dube then attacked Kane Richardson, creaming two fours off the right-arm pacer and RR was back on the track with 81/4 after 11 overs. The next over went for 15 runs as Harshal Patel conceded 3 fours in his first over of the innings and Riyan Parag was playing a good hand, supporting the well-settled Dube.
The Dube-Riyan Parag pair completed a fifty-run partnership. But the right-hander tried scooping Harshal Patel, only to find an edge that carried to Chahal at third-man. Rahul Tewatia came to the crease with an aggressive mindset and was off the mark with a maximum over the fine-leg fielder. The left-hander added two more fours to the total and RR were in a strong position approaching the business end of the innings.
RCB however got the timely wicket of Dube after Maxwell took a brilliant catch in the outfield to dismiss the left-hander, who fell four short of his fifty. RR reached the 150-run mark in the 18th over with Chris Morris and a well-settled Tewatia at the crease. Morris hit his first six, courtesy of a full toss from Jamieson.
Tewatia was striking it clean as he smashed Siraj for a four and six each before the right-arm pacer got the better of the left-hander and ended his fine knock of 40(23). Patel added two more wickets to his tally after he got rid of Morris and Chetan Sakariya in two deliveries. A six at the end from Shreyas Gopal helped RR post 177-9 on the board.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 181/0 (Devdutt Padikkal 101*, Virat Kohli 72*) beat Rajasthan Royals 177/9 (Shivam Dube 46, Rahul Tewatia 40; Mohammed Siraj 3/27) by 10 wickets.
