Riding high on a dominating bowling display Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) trounced Rajasthan Royals (RR) by a huge 112-run margin in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, here on Sunday.
Batting first, half-centuries by skipper Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell and a cameo of unbeaten 29 off 11 balls from Anuj Rawat guided RCB to a competitive total of 171/5 in 20 overs.
In reply, the Royals had a dismal batting display as they were bowled out for 59 in 10.3 overs, the third-lowest innings total in the history of the tournament. Only Joe Root and Shimron Hetmyer managed to get into double figures and the latter was the only one who was able to take on the opposition bowlers.
For RCB, Wayne Parnell was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed three wickets with the likes of Michael Bracewell and Mohammad Siraj also bowling really well as RCB sealed a massive win.
Chasing 172, RR lost three quick wickets and were reduced to 7/3 in the first two overs.
Siraj drew first blood as he removed the in-form opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck. The opener looked to hit through the line and hit it flat to the left of mid-off where Virat Kohli took a sharp catch.
The next over Parnell struck twice and claimed the wicket of Jos Buttler and skipper Sanju Samson. Buttler slapped it uppishly toward the cover point where Siraj grabbed it around his chest and Buttler departed for a duck.
A delivery later, Samson attempted an across-the-line heave on Parnell's short ball but got the top edge and it went straight up. The keeper, Rawat called it early and ran in to settle under it to take a brilliant catch.
Root and Devdutt Padikkal went for a couple of boundaries before Bracewell piled up more miseries, removing Padikkal on a short ball in the fifth over.
Padikkal went deep in his crease and whipped to mid-wicket where Siraj took a good low catch. The umpire went upstairs to get it checked and it was a close one but Siraj seemed to have his fingers underneath and the third umpire signalled it out as well.
Then, Hetmyer started with a band as he simply hit through the line and smoked it a long way over long-on for a maximum.
Parnell struck again and claimed his third, trapping Root lbw. But the batter was quick to review the decision. The UltraEdge confirmed no bat was involved and the ball tracking showed three reds. The on-field decision stood and Root headed back to the hut without having much impact
The hosts produced an abysmal show with the bat as they were five down for the score of 28 at the end of the powerplay.
The next over Bracewell picked up his second wicket in the form of Dhruv Jurel as RR lost their sixth wicket with not even 50 runs on the scoreboard.
Then, Hetmyer did what he does best and smashed three back-to-back maximums off Karn Sharma. Off the next ball, a bit of a mix-up in the middle resulted in Ravichandran Ashwin's run out, and RR were reduced to 50/7 in eight overs.
Hetmyer punched it to sweeper cover and Ashwin called for the second run but Siraj threw the ball towards the striker's end where wicketkeeper Rawat smartly guided it towards the sticks and got the bails off. The replay confirmed that Ashwin was short of the crease.
Maxwell came into the attack in the 10th over and got rid of RR's only hope Hetmyer and the host were struggling on 59/8 halfway through the chase.
Then, Karn's double strike in the next over restricted the host to 59. He first cleaned up Adam Zampa on a googly. A delivery later dismissed K.M. Asif and RCB secured a massive 112-run win.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/5 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 55, Glenn Maxwell 54; Adam Zampa 2-25, KM Asif 2-42) beat Rajasthan Royals (Shimron Hetmyer 35; Wayne Parnell 3-10, Michael Bracewell 2-16) by 112 runs