BENGALURU: Following his side’s 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals (RR), marking their first win at home in four matches, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hailed his bowlers for showing courage during a tough target defence and added that his side has finally cracked the code to win at Chinnaswamy Stadium.
RCB ended a three-match losing streak at home, with Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, and Josh Hazlewood as the star performers. They overcame a hungry and valiant RR, which slipped to its fifth successive loss despite all their efforts.
After the match in the post-match presentation, Patidar said, “That was a much-needed win. Today, the wicket was different, and all credit goes to the bowlers after the 10th over. The way they showed courage was tremendous. Initially, they batted beautifully, and credit goes to them as well. We were searching for wickets, and when you get wickets, you can only stop runs. I always back my instincts first, but we have a team of great leaders, and their inputs help a lot. (Have they cracked the code to win at the MCS?) Yes.”
Coming to the match, RR opted to bowl first after winning the toss. A 61-run stand between Phil Salt (26 in 23 balls, with four boundaries) and Virat kickstarted things off for RCB. Later, a 95-run stand followed between Virat, who made 70 in 42 balls, with eight fours and two sixes and Devdutt Padikkal (50 in 27 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes). Despite some quick wickets later, cameos from Tim David (23* in 15 balls, with two fours and a six) and Jitesh Sharma (20* in 10 balls, with four boundaries) powered RCB to 205/5 in 20 overs.
Sandeep Sharma (2/45) was the top bowler for RR, while Jofra Archer also delivered an impressive four-over spell of 1/33.
During the run-chase, Yashasvi Jaiswal (49 in 19 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Vaibhav Suryavanshi (16 in 10 balls, with two sixes) put on a quickfire 52-run stand, putting RCB under pressure early on. Later, Nitish Rana (28 in 22 balls, with three fours and a six), skipper Riyan Parag (22 in 10 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Dhruv Jurel (47 in 34 balls, with three fours and three sixes) kept firing, with the equation down to 18 runs in final two overs with five wickets left. However, Krunal Pandya (2/31) removed Parag and Rana timely while Josh Hazlewood (4/33) and Yash Dayal (1/33) produced a clutch performance in the death phase, securing RCB an 11-run win.
RCB is at the third spot in the points table, with six wins and three losses, giving them 12 points. RR is in eighth spot with two wins and seven losses.
They have suffered their fifth successive loss. Hazlewood was given the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his breathtaking four-wicket haul. (ANI)
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