In the RCB VS RR game, Kohli 50 and Padikkal’s 100 lead RCB to a dominating 10-wicket victory against Rajasthan. Padikkal remained unbeaten at 101 while RCB captain Kohli remained not-out at 72. The duo was merciless against the Rajasthan bowlers and took its team past the target of 178.
RR Inning Highlight
Winning the toss, Kohli was quick in opting to bowl first. The decision couldn’t have been more obvious given how Wankhede’s surface is suitable for chases, no matter how big the numbers on score card. Mohammed Siraj, who was impressive during India’s tour to Australia and then England’s tour to India, was given the responsibility to bowl first. He was welcomed by Jos Butler with two boundaries in the first over. However, Siraj had the last laugh, sending Butler back for 8 runs for 8 balls.
In the next over, Kane Richardson on mid-on took a catch of Manan Vohra (7) who hit Kyle Jamieson but mistimed the shot. It was a dream start for skipper Kohli’s team as the next over saw Siraj picking up the wicket of David Miller who was trapped LBW on a duck.
RR skipper Sanju Samson steadied the boat for a while as he went after Richardson first and then Washington Sundar for multiple boundaries and a maximum. However, just when it looked like the RR inning was back on track, he flicked the ball and sent it to Maxwell at mid-wicket for a safe catch. The skipper played an inning of 21 off 18 and RR was left reeling at 43 with the loss of 4 major wickets.
However, middle order batsmen Riyan and Shivam stitched together an aggressive partnership for 5th wicket. The two bowlers creamed beautiful shots all over the ground and contributed 66-runs for 39 deliveries. Yuzvendra Chahal was picked by both the batsman as the bowler to go on aggressive. The fact was evident when Dube slammed multiple sixes off Chahal in the 9th over that got his team 17 crucial runs.
Parag, in the meantime, went after Harshal Patel and slammed 3 boundaries off him in an over. However, just when it looked like Parag was opening up his wings, Patel cut it. Parag’s 25 off 16 was cut short as he found Chahal off a Patel delivery at third-man.
After his dismissal it was Rahul Tewatia’s time who went for a six and then a four of Harshal Patel and showed his intent. Dube on the other end, who was playing well in his 46 off 32 innings, found Maxwell off a Richardson delivery. However, the duo of Tewatia and Chris Morris played some blazing shots and took their team past 170 mark.
Rajasthan Royal’s eventually ended its inning at 177/9 and was lauded by its fans for a brilliant recovery, especially after having almost half of their side dismissed at 43.
RCB Inning Highlight
Chasing a respectable total of 177, the opening duo of Kohli and Padikkal went on a merciless rampage against RR bowlers from the beginning to the very end. The Indian team captain looked to be in some other zone as he went all guns blazing in the first over and hit Gopal for a maximum.
If Kohli was aggressor, Padikkal was even a bigger one as he took the baton from Kohli and went berserk. After the second over, he hit 5 boundaries, each more beautiful than other, including hitting back-to-back fours off Chris Morris.
Padikkal showed no mercy to RR bowlers and went after Rahman and Sakariya, slamming maximums off both and taking his team to 59/0 at the end of the powerplay. RR bowlers after the strategic time out served similar fate as the bled runs all over the ground. Padikkal reached his boundry in style playing 28 balls and hitting a four off Tewatia. Tewatia was shown no respite as in his next over Padikkal hit him for two consecutive sixes. In the 10th over, RCB cruised past 100, thanks to another maximum hit by Padikkal off Rahman.
Having been on backseat for the first half of the innings, Kohli took the baton back in his hands and in the next couple of overs he hit three boundaries and picked up one maximum, bringing his 50. His 50 came slower than Padikkal’s and yet it was relatively swift, coming in just 34 balls. In the next over he set another benchmark for himself as he hit a boundary to cross 6,000 runs in IPL.
In the 14th over, Gopal bled 17 runs in one over and Padikkal cruising towards his not-so-nervous 90s. Soon in an over by Rahman he slammed a boundry off extra-cover and brought up his first IPL century in style. And thanks to an unplayable full-toss by Rahman that gave RCB 5-wides, the team registered its third consecutive IPL victory.
