Dubai:An action-packed start provided by Rajasthan Royals' (RR) openers -- Evin Lewis (58 off 37) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (31 off 22) -- on Wednesday went in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) came back strongly and halted RR's march to 149-9 here at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
From RCB, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shahbaz Ahmed picked two crucial wickets each and led the bowling attack against RR that was once eyeing a score in excess of 200.
In form batsman and skipper Sanju Samson too couldn't contribute much as Ahmed picked his wicket when he was on 19.
The RCB staged an excellent comeback as Rajasthan Royals blew away a blistering start to finish at 149 for nine.
Ahmed and Chahal triggered the slide after RR were cruising at 100 for one in the 11th over.
Pacer Harshal Patel (3/34) came close to picking a hat-trick in successive matches, in the final over, but Kartik Tyagi denied him that as RR lost eight wickets for 49 runs.
Evin Lewis top-scored but he was guilty of throwing away his wicket at a crucial juncture, and so was skipper Sanju Samson, whose adventurism did not help his team.
Asked to take first strike, RR saw off two quiet overs before Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal decided to cut loose at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
From eight for two in two overs, RR were cruising at 39 for no loss at the end of fourth before racing past the fifty-run mark in the next over, with Lewis being the aggressor.
Jaiswal played the day's first scoring shot when he hit Mohammed Siraj through the cover and in the next over, he clobbered Glenn Maxwell for a huge six over long on.