Royal Challengers Bangalore increased their gap with Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, and also improved their net run rate significantly with a 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan started well with bat, but faltered in the second part of their innings to post a sub-par 149/9. With ball, they were not very effective as well against the RCB top-order batters.
Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal started cautiously and added just eight in first two overs. But they hit three sixes and two boundaries in next two overs and took the team total to 39 for no loss in 4 overs. Lewis, the more attacking of the two, raced to 41 in 21 balls by the end of the Powerplay. Rajasthan were 56/0 by then.
The partnership was broken by Dan Christian. Jaiswal was looking dangerous and started the ninth over with a six, but off the next ball, his mistimed shot was pouched by Mohammed Siraj. IPL debutant George Garton returned to bowl the 12th over with the score on 100/1. He immediately had Lewis top-edging a pull and getting caught by K.S. Bharat for a 37-ball 58.
That was the opening Bangalore needed, and their spinners triggered a collapse. Yuzvendra Chahal picked up Mahipal Lomror in the next over, and Shahbaz Ahmed provided took out Sanju Samson and Rahul Tewatia in the next over. From 100/1, Rajasthan slipped to 117/5 in three overs.
The spinners kept bowling tightly. In his next two overs, Chahal conceded six and picked up Liam Livingstone. By the 17th over, the Royals had been derailed. Harshal Patel and Mohammed Siraj bowled the last three overs and gave away just 20. Despite missing a hat-trick, Harshal claimed three wickets in the 20th over to take his wicket tally for the season to 26. Despite that start, Rajasthan could set a target of mere 150 for Bangalore.
Virat Kohli started the chase with three fours in the first over, from Chris Morris. Devdutt Padikkal also joined the party with a four in the next over. They raced to 48 with some aggressive batting before Padikkal was castled by Mustafizur Rahman.
Kohli looked confident and set for his third consecutive fifty before a brilliant piece of fielding from Riyan Parag found him short of the crease. But Bharat and Glenn Maxwell kept the scoreboard moving. They opened up once the target came down under 30. Bharat was caught by substitute fielder Anuj Rawat at fine leg off Mustafizur, but Maxwell took 22 in an over from Morris, including three fours and a six, to bring up his fifty in 30 balls.
A.B. de Villiers faced his first delivery with the scores on level and finished the formalities with a pull to the square leg boundary.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 149/9 in 20 overs (Lewis 58; Harshal 3-34) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 153/3 in 17.1 overs (Maxwell 50*; Mustafizur 2-20) with 17 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Yuzvendra Chahal.