NEWS
Follow UsRajasthan Royals (RR) suffered a massive 112-run loss at the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), which has jeopardised their chances of making it to the playoffs. The Sanju Samson-led side managed to put up just 59 - the third-lowest total in IPL history, chasing 172.
Their openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler were dismissed for a duck, while only Joe Root (10) and Shinron Hetmyer (35) got into double figures. The RCB bowlers were outstanding right from the first over, with Wayne Parnell the pick of them, walking away with figures of 3 for 10.
With this win, RCB go to fifth in the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table with 12 points, RR just one spot behind them at 12 points, but they have just one game left, while RCB have two.
Looking back at the game, RR skipper Samson said that his side would have made a match of this had they got a good start in the powerplay.
"I think our top three were scoring a lot of runs, we go hard in the powerplay but it didn’t come out today. I think it's too soon to analyze or dissect the game. You need to go hard in the powerplay knowing the ball was getting slower and older," Samson said at the post-match presentation.
"That’s the way me, Jaiswal and Jos have played throughout. Credit to the RCB bowlers for their energy and intensity. I think this was a target that could have gone to the wire, I expected a tight match if we had a decent powerplay. I was just thinking seeing the batting collapse where we went wrong? I don't think I have an answer to that yet."
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis reckons that his side needed this win so that they could go into the last two games full of confidence.
"Really good for our NRR. Tough pitch. We batted first and assessed the conditions. We batted in the powerplay and thought 160 will be a good score. We have had a good set up till the 15th over. But we managed to capitalize on the momentum shift at the end," du Plessis said.
"Hopefully, we can set it up for the last game at the Chinnaswamy. Today was a good one for the team. They needed this confidence to go into the last two games."
Executing your plans is what the bowlers thrive for and player of the match Parnell was pleased with how he and the entire team did.
"Credit to our batters. The last over gave us momentum. We could execute well. The message was to take pace off the ball. Bowl it at the sticks. We were able to execute everything. The surface was low, slow and skiddy. Was trying to make them play across the line. When I wasn't playing, I was preparing. It is a long tournament and you need to be switched on every game," Parnell said.
RCB will look to continue pushing for a place in the playoffs when they take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) next on Thursday (May 18) in Hyderabad. RR's final league game will be against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday in Dharamsala (May 19).
