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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made it back-to-back wins after defeating Rajasthan Royals (RR) by seven wickets in an IPL 2023 clash on Sunday. Riding on Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis‘ half-centuries, RCB went on to post a total of 189/9 in 20 overs. While Maxwell and Du Plessis took the attack to the RR bowlers, RCB stand-in captain Virat Kohli had a tough day at the office. After RR opted to bowl first, Kohli was dismissed on the first delivery of the match by Trent Boult.
Chasing a target of 190, Mohammed Siraj continued his rich vein of form as he cleaned up Jos Buttler on the fourth delivery of the first over. However, Yashasvi Jaiswal (47) and Devdutt Padikkal (52) held for RR, and it seemed at one point that the two would take their team closer to a win.
But, Padikkal’s wicket sparked an RR downfall as RCB struck on regular intervals and took control of the proceedings. With 20 needed off the last over, RR’s hopes firmly relied on Ravichandran Ashwin and the promising Dhruv Jurel.
In a bizarre turn of events, Ashwin produced one of the most bizarre shots as he hit Harshal Patel for a boundary on the first ball of the over. While Ashwin wanted to pull the ball over deep midwicket, Harshal bowled a slower one, forcing the batter to check his shot at the last moment.
However, the ball found a thick upper edge and sailed over the keeper’s head, as well as the fielder at short third. Kohli, however, was in absolute disbelief after Ashwin’s freak attempt resulted into a boundary.
— Billu Pinki (@BilluPinkiSabu) April 23, 2023
But despite scoring 10 off three balls Ashwin was caught for 12 going for a big heave to give Harshal his third wicket of the game and RCB a seven-run victory.
“It is about momentum at this ground,” said losing skipper Samson.
“Normally, Hetmyer does it for us, but he had an off game. We have now lost two games in a row. It is time to pull up our socks and come back stronger.”
(With AFP Inputs)
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