The Chinnaswamy stadium will be the stage for round two of 'Royal Rumble' when Royal Challengers Bangalore face off against Rajasthan Royals in Match 29 of Indian Premier League 2015. A victory for RCB will seem them displace KKR from the third position on the points table while RR's win will see CSK move down to second.
The Virat Kohli-led side, ended a three-game losing streak with a comfortable nine-wicket win against RR in Ahmedabad and followed it up with a crushing 10-wicket victory against Delhi Daredevils in another away encounter. The away wins will have given them a lot of confidence and RCB will be eager to register their first victory at home this season.
Meanwhile, the Shane Watson-led Rajasthan suffered back-to-back losses and one game was washed out following their five wins on the trot. Royals will be eager to regain the momentum and move back to the top of the table.
A top-edge off Watson gave de Villiers four runs in the ninth over, which yielded seven runs. Mandeep also got a thick outside-edge off Binny in the next over, which got him another boundary. Seven runs came off the 10th over, which included a leg-bye. RCB were 83/2 at the halfway stage.
Rajasthan Royals skipper won the toss and decided to bowl first. Both teams made a change each. Tim Southee replaces Chris Morris for Rajasthan while RCB brought in Yuzvendra Chahal for Iqbal Abdulla.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli(c), Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mandeep Singh, Sarfaraz Khan, David Wiese, Harshal Patel, Mitchell Starc, Varun Aaron, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Shane Watson(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Steven Smith, Karun Nair, Deepak Hooda, Sanju Samson(w), Stuart Binny, James Faulkner, Tim Southee, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe
We at Cricbuzz think:
Vishaal - 194Bhanu - 186Pradeep - 190Krishna - 180Akshay - 210Sriram - 188Gokul - 160
How much do you think RCB will finish with?
He missed out on a full toss off the first delivery bowled by Tim Southee as he hit the boundary at the bowler's end. But, Chris Gayle made up for it by whacking a four and a six off the next two deliveries. The six was Gayle's 500th in T20 cricket and he looked set for more. However, the 'Gaylestorm' was cut short in the same over as he handed a simple catch to Deepak Hooda at mid-wicket after not quite getting hold of a pull, which brought AB de Villiers to the crease.
In the following over, Virat Kohli got off the mark with a single off Dhawal Kulkarni while de Villiers scored his first runs by punching one square of the wicket for a four. Four byes came off the final ball of Kulkarni's over as RCB moved to 19/1.
Kohli was drawn in to the drive in the third over by Tim Southee and that led to the downfall of the RCB skipper. Kohli (1) got an outside edge and Sanju Samson held a fine catch, diving across to his right. Mandeep Singh then got off the ark with a four off Southee while de Villiers managed a couple of boundaries off Kulkarni to take RCB to 33/2 after 4 overs.
@Im_sudhansu reckons RCB final score will be 170.
Waiting eagerly for first double ton in t20 #abdv says ?@tahirah212
Birthday boy James Faulkner did not have the best of starts as AB de Villiers took a liking to him when he was introduced at the start of the fifth over. a whip through mid-wicket, a tuck behind square and a chip shot next to the bowler helped de Villiers score three fours in the over. Shane Watson brought himself on for the final over of powerplay and he did an economical job, conceding only five runs as RCB moved to 52/2 after six.
Tambe, brought on for the seventh over, came under attack as de Villiers swept one powerfully to the square-leg boundary and followed it up by cracking a short delivery past cover for a four. Mandeep also drilled one through the extra-cover region for a boundary in the same over, which yielded 15 runs. RR's sixth bowler of the day, Stuart Binny, was introduced at the start of the eighth over and he did a good job, keeping things tight any giving away only two singles. The second single, which came off Mandeep's bat, raised the half-century stand.
David Wiese scored two boundaries off Kulkarni in the 19th over before falling in the same over, finding Southee at deep mid-wicket while attempting a big one. Sarfaraz ended the over with a four to take RCB to 188/6.
Harshal Patel scored a six off Southee in the final over while Sarfaraz scored two couples. Harshal was run out off the final ball with Sarfaraz unbeaten on 45 off 21 as RCB finished with 200.
Mandeep and de Villiers were building a good partnership and ten more runs were added to their stand at the end of the 11th over, with Mandeep scoring his fourth boundary. However, Mandeep had to depart in the following over, giving Binny - who was doing a fine job with the ball - his first wicket. Trying to sweep a full delivery, the batsman failed to make any contact and was trapped in front to depart on 27. This ended a partnership worth 74 runs off 8.5 overs. In the same over, de Villiers nonchalantly dispatched a short delivery over the mid-wicket fence for his first maximum to bring up his first half-century of this IPL.
Dinesh Karthik failed to capitalise on a free-hit as Southee came up with an economical over, giving away only seven in the 13th. In the following over, Karthik managed his first six by lofting a Binny delivery over mid-off and he also improvised well to score back-to-back fours. However, RCB suffered a setback as de Villiers (57) was run out in the same over. The fault lied with Karthik as he took off for a non-existent single after flicking the ball straight to mid-wicket and was distraught to see a diving de Villiers short of the crease. RCB were 124/4 after 14 overs.
Tambe kept things quiet in the 15th over, giving away only six runs. Karthik and Sarfaraz Khan made up for a quiet over by managing a couple off boundaries off Faulker, who conceded 12 runs in the 16th over as RCB moved to 142/4.
Sarfaraz managed back-to-back fours off Watson in the 17th over to help RCB to the 150-mark. However, Karthik was run out at the striker's end in the same over after being turned down for a double. Sarfaraz, who refused to take the strike, indicated that he wanted Karthik to remain at the striker's end for the free-hit as the delivery was a no-ball, but the run-out meant that the senior partner eventually could not. Watson's over yielded 15 runs.
The 17-year-old Sarfaraz vs the 43-year-old Tambe was a contest to behold and it was the youngster who stamped his authority by managing two fours and a six off the leg-spinner to take RCB to 175/5 after 18.
29 Apr 2015
There was no respite from rain, all covers were back on and chances of resumption at the Chinnaswamy stadium appeared bleak.
A steady drizzle meant that covers were brought on to the ground, delaying the start of the second innings.
Rain did not relent and the end result was that the game was abandoned. Rajasthan Royals walked off with a lone point for the second game in a row and they held on to their second spot on the points table. They are tied with CSK on 12 points but the men in yellow stay at the top on basis of superior run-rate. A point for RCB saw them move up to the third spot - tied with KKR on 7 points but ahead with a superior run-rate.