Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) here on Sunday in the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 match with Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis’s rapid batting and a 127-run partnership for the third wicket between the two in just 66 balls. Scored 189 runs for nine wickets against.
Taking an aggressive approach, Maxwell hit six fours and four sixes during his innings of 77 runs in 44 balls. Du Plessis supported him well, hitting eight fours and two sixes in his 39-ball 62. When both of them were batting, the team was heading towards a big score but after the break of the partnership, RCB batsmen could only manage 33 runs in the last five overs.
Trent Boult and Sandeep Sharma took two wickets each for Rajasthan while Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravichandran Ashwin got one success each. Chahal was economical and conceded just 28 runs in his four overs. Three RCB batsmen were run out.
After winning the toss and electing to bowl, Boult got off to a fine start by dismissing Bengaluru’s stand-in captain Virat Kohli (0) in the first ball and Shahbaz Ahmed (two runs) in the third over. However, it did not make any difference to du Plessis and Maxwell and both batted fearlessly and hit fours and sixes.
Du Plessis hit two fours against Sandeep in the second over and hit two spectacular sixes against this bowler in the fourth over. Maxwell, on the other hand, hit four boundaries against Boult in the third and fifth overs. He hit a four and a six against Ashwin, which took RCB to 62 for two in the power play.
Maxwell continued the aggressive approach and sent Chahal’s ball to the visitors on the reverse sweep. He completed his half-century in 27 balls with a six off Jason Holder in the 10th over. Du Plessis completed the century partnership by taking one run against Boult in the 12th over and then completed his fifty in 31 balls with fours.
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Yashasvi Jaiswal ran out du Plessis in the 14th over after hitting the ball straight to the wicket after brilliant fielding. In the next over, Ashwin gave Rajasthan a big breakthrough by walking Maxwell. Maxwell’s reverse shot went straight into the hands of Holder.
After taking two big wickets in two overs, the Rajasthan bowlers started to get hold of the match. Chahal sent Mahipal Lomror (eight runs) to the pavilion in the 17th over, while Suyash Prabhudesai was run out without opening the account. In the last over, Sandeep dismissed Dinesh Karthik (16 runs) and Vijaykumar Vaishakh (0) in consecutive balls to keep RCB within 190 runs.
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