RECAP
Follow UsKohli’s 8th IPL ton
Batting through the innings, Virat Kohli notched up his 8th IPL ton, scoring 113 not out off 72 balls. While the other batters scored only 59 off 48 balls, Kohli’s knock was the joint-slowest hundred in IPL history.
Boss > King
Jos Buttler’s 58-ball ton overpowered Kohli’s knock. Buttler’s poor form (34 runs in last six inn for RR) was a concern for Rajasthan Royals but he found his golden touch with a match-winning hundred in his 100th IPL match. He completed the 184-run chase with a six that took him from 94 to 100.
The 148-run stand
RR lost Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first over for a duck. Thereon, Sanju Samson and Buttler weathered the storm and then took on the RCB bowlers from the sixth over. The duo forged a 148-run stand, the highest in this season. Samson scored 69 off 42 balls.
The middle-overs gap
RCB went unscathed in the powerplay but at 53/0, they had the lowest powerplay score of the season without losing a wicket. In the middle overs, they scored only 76 runs while RR hammered 98 runs in overs 7 to 15, thanks to Samson and Buttler. That is where the difference was created.
Contrasting spin bowling
Despite the seamers not picking any wickets upfront, RR spinners conceded only 2/72 in their nine overs combined. RCB spinners, meanwhile, went for 0/63 in four overs between Mayank Dagar and Himanshu Sharma.
The lack of quality spinners hurt RCB. Also, there was dew in the second innings. Faf du Plessis, after the defeat, admitted that they should have scored a few more runs.
