IPL 2023: Faf Du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Harshal Patel ensure RCB halts RR's winning streak
IPL 2023: Royal Challengers Bangalore trounced Rajasthan Royals by seven runs on Sunday, halting the latter's winning spree in the process, thanks to clinical performances from Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Harshal Patel.
FollowIt was an astounding performance for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in green, edging past former champion Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven runs during Match 32 of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. Having halted the latter's winning streak, the former went up to the fourth spot in the points table, while the performances of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Harshal Patel in this game were commendable.
Virat Kohli (0) was out to lead the hosts again, with de Plessis still unfit. Winning the coin toss, RR opted to field, as RCB was off to a shaky start, losing a couple of wickets for 12 by the third over of the PowerPlay (PP). However, opener du Plessis (62) and Maxwell (77) continued their dominating partnership and put on a 127-run stand for the third wicket to bring the hosts' innings back on track.
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While du Plessis struck his 30th IPL half-century, he was dismissed off an unfortunate run out in the 14th, followed by Maxwell, who departed 17 runs later, at 156, to veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the following over, having hit his 16th IPL 50. Thereon, the incoming batters could barely script an effective partnership, but the Royal Challengers finished on an above-par total of 189/9.
For the visitors, pacers Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma seized a couple each, whereas leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was economical. Before the Rajasthan chase, Bangalore brought pacer Harshal as the Impact Player (IP) for du Plessis. Although the Royals lost Jos Buttler (0) to speedster Mohammed Sitraj, who cleaned him up in the opening over of the PP with a run on the board, fellow opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (50*) and Devdutt Padikkal (52) added 98 for the second.
At the same time, Padikkal brought up his eighth IPL half-century before pacer David Willey broke the stand in the 12th. While Rajasthan was down to 125/4 by the 16th, some classy bowling from RCB piled pressure on the RR batters, especially with the required rate constantly rising. Shimron Hetmyer (3) and Dhruv Jurel (24) tried to revive things with a 30-run partnership for the fifth wicket before the former departed off an unfortunate run out in the 18th. Despite the Royals' attempt to fight back, they fell short by seven runs. For the Royal Challengers, Harshal held three, whereas Willey was economical.
