Pune, Apr 26: Riyan Parag smashed a match-defining unbeaten half-century before the bowling unit lived up to its reputation to hand Rajasthan Royals a 29-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in an Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.
Parag (56 not out off 31 balls) single-handedly took his side to 144 for 8 with his unbeaten half-century, which is his highest score in IPL. He struck three boundaries and four sixes during his knock.
Parag marshalled the RR lower-order brilliantly and smashed Harshal Patel for a boundary and two huge sixes in the final over to take RR to a decent total after being sent in to bat.
But RCB’s chase never got going as RR bowlers, led by young Kuldeep Sen (4/20), Ravichandran Ashwin (3/17) and Prasidh Krishna (2/23), bundled out RR for 115 in 19.3 overs.
Opening the innings on the back of two consecutive first-ball ducks, Virat Kohli started on a cagey note but lit up the stadium and raised hopes of his fans when he struck two back-to-back boundaries of Trent Boult to start his innings.
But as it has been happening in the tournament, Kohli flopped once again when a Prasidh Krishna bouncer got the better of him in the next over.
RCB’s problems compounded in the seventh over when Kuldeep Sen, who replaced Obed McCoy in the playing XI, picked up two big wickets — of captain Faf du Plessis (23) and Glenn Maxwell (0) — with successive balls.
But Shahbaz Ahmed somehow kept his wicket intact to deny Sen a hat-trick.
With RCB struggling at 38 for three in the seventh over, it was match on from here on.
Indian domestic players — Rajat Patidar (16) and Suyash Prabhudessai — failed miserably, leaving the difficult task of finishing the innings once again on the shoulders of Dinesh Karthik (6).
But it was not Karthik’s day as he was run out cheaply.
Ahmed (17 off 27) too was not in his elements and struggled to hit the ball.
Earlier, RCB’s decision to bowl first yielded great results as they picked up wickets at regular intervals, not allowing RR any scope of building a big partnership. (PTI)
Today’s fixture
Gujarat Titans V/s SRH – 7.30 pm
Scoreboard
Rajasthan Royals Innings:
Jos Buttler c Mohd Siraj b Hazlewood 8
Devdutt Padikkal lbw b Mohd Siraj 7
Ravichandran Ashwin c & b Mohd Siraj 17
Sanju Samson b de Silva 27
Daryl Mitchell c Maxwell b Hazlewood 16
Riyan Parag not out 56
Shimron Hetmyer c Prabhudessai b de Silva 3
Trent Boult c Kohli b Patel 5
Prasidh Krishna run out 2
Yuzvendra Chahal not out 0
Extras: (W-3) 3
Total: (For 8 wickets in 20 overs) 144
Fall of wickets: 1/11 2/33 3/33 4/68 5/99 6/102 7/110 8/121
Bowling: Shahbaz Ahmed 3-0-35-0, Mohammed Siraj 4-0-30-2, Josh Hazlewood 4-1-19-2, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva 4-0-23-2, Harshal Patel 4-0-33-1, Glenn Maxwell 1-0-4-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
Virat Kohli c Parag b Prasidh Krishna 9
Faf du Plessis c Buttler b Sen 23
Rajat Patidar b Ashwin 16
Glenn Maxwell c Padikkal b Sen 0
Shahbaz Ahmed c Parag b Ashwin 17
Suyash Prabhudessai c Parag b Ashwin 2
Dinesh Karthik run out (Prasidh Krishna/Chahal) 6
W Hasaranga de Silva c & b Sen 18
Harshal Patel c Parag b Sen 8
Mohammed Siraj c Sen b Prasidh Krishna 5
Josh Hazlewood not out 0
Extras: (B-1, LB-4, W-6) 11
Total: (All out in 19.3 overs) 115
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-37, 3-37, 4-58, 5-66, 6-72, 7-92, 8-102, 9-107, 10-115
Bowling: Trent Boult 3-0-20-0, Prasidh Krishna 4-0-23-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-17-3, Kuldeep Sen 3.3-0-20-4, Daryl Mitchell 1-0-7-0, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-23-0.
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