Abu Dhabi: In the first match of IPL 2020's first double-header, all-round Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) imposed a comprehensive 8 wickets defeat on Rajasthan Royals (RR) to notch up their second successive wins here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday. RCB chased down RR's 154 for 6 with five balls to spare to grab the numero uno position of the IPL points ladder, collecting six points from four matches. RCB, on Monday, defeated Mumbai Indians in a Super Over thriller after both teams were tied at 201 at the end of customary 20 overs.
After Yuzvendra Chahal's brilliant spin bowling and Isuru Udana and Navdeep Saini's pace firepower, accompanied by brilliant fielding that helped RCB restrict RR to 154 for 6 at the end of usual 20 overs, RCB captain Virat Kohli, for the first time in IPL 2020, excelled with the bat. Kohli remained unbeaten playing a match-winning 72 runs knock off 53 balls. Opener Devdutt Padikkal, who is playing his first season, continuing his swansong hit his fourth half-century. The southpaw scored a blitzkrieg 63 off 45 balls before felling to Jofra Archer's excellent delivery.
His 99-run third-wicket stand with Kohli proved to be the game-changer for RCB after inconsistent Aaron Finch was trapped in front for lbw by Shreyas Gopal for 8 in the third over of their chase.
Both Kohli and Padikkal looked fluent in their form. Sticking to the ground shots, both decorated their respective innings. RCB talisman Kohli laced his knock with seven fours and a six, while 20-year-old Padikkal, in a show of temperament, hit six fours and a six.
After Padikkal's departure, Kohli took RCB past the target with AB de Villiers (12 not out) by his side.
RR's flop show outside Sharjah fortress continues
For RR, this was their second consecutive defeat in the ongoing season after KKR thrashed them by 37 runs Wednesday. Just like their Dubai outing, RR batters failed to get over from their privilege of playing at Sharjah's small ground. In their first two outings at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, RR had put up back to back 200 plus totals to beat Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab, to provide their IPL 2020 campaign a flying start.
But as they flew out of their Sharjah fortress, their weakness got exposed. On Saturday, five out of six RR batsmen lost their wickets to catches.
Earlier, winning the toss, RR captain Steve Smith decided to bat first. But his decision proved wrong as RR lost wickets at regular intervals.
Brilliant bowling by Chahal, Uadana and Saini
Captain Smith was the first man to fall. The Aussie batsman was dismissed for 5 by Usuru Udana as he was castled by the Sri Lankan.
Recovering from the early hiccup, Jos Buttler had provided a breezy start to RR, hitting three fours and a six afterwards. But his dismissal in the fourth over by Navdeep Saini broke the run-scoring flow of RR's innings.
RR's No. 3 Sanju Samson, who scored 8 runs against KKR in the last game, failed to shine for the second time as Chahal took a return catch off his own bowling to dismiss the right-hander. The Kerala batsman had hit 74 and 85 in RR's first two outings in Sharjah.
Next batsman Robin Uthappa couldn't do much as he too fell perry to RCB's chief wicket-taker, Chahal, as the former tried to clear a wide outside off-stump delivery, but ended up giving an easy catch to Udana at the mid-off. Uthappa's total aggregate in the 13th edition of the IPL is 33 runs which spoke volume of his current form.
With RR down to 70 for 4 inside 11 overs, Chahal's back to back strikes put them in serious trouble.
Lower order contributed
However, Mahipal Lomor, who was playing his first match in IPL 2020, tried his best to repair the damage. He played a gutsy 47-run innings before being dismissed by Chahal. This was Chahal's third scalp in the match.
Later, small contributions from Riyan Parag (16), Rahul Tewatia (24*) and Jofra Archer (16*) helped RR post a modest 154 for 6 on the board. In the 20th over, there was a horrific incident when Navdeep Saini's beamer hit on Tewatia's chest. The batsman was laying on the ground groaning. Fortunately, he recovered and hit a long six in the very next ball to regain his composure.
However, unlike Tewatia, who played a brilliant 53 runs knock off 31 balls against KXIP during a stiff run chase last week, RR could never comeback in the game, as a result; they lost their second successive match.
Buoyant by this thumping victory, RCB will next take on Delhi Capitals on 5th September at Dubai, while RR will meet Mumbai Indians next day at Abu Dhabi.
