Rajasthan Royals beat clueless RCB to clinch first win of IPL 2019
Leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal bamboozled the batsmen with his googlies before Jos Buttler struck 59 as Rajasthan Royals finally won their first game of this IPL season with a seven-wicket defeat of Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) players Ben Stokes and Rahul Tripathi celebrate victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB during the Indian Premier League IPL T20 2019 cricket match at Sawai Man Singh stadium in Jaipur Tuesday April 2 2019. | (Photo | PTI)
It was opener Parthiv who resisted the Royals attack with aplomb, hitting a belligerent 67 off 41 balls with nine boundaries and six to help his side put 158 for four after being sent in to bat. | (Photo | PTI)
However, it was Jos Buttler who led the Royals' chase again with his confident knock as the home side overhauled the target with one ball to spare, handing RCB their fourth defeat in a row. (Photo | PTI)
Royals were off to a steady if not fiery start with Ajinkya Rahane (22) and Buttler adding 60 runs for the first wicket. Rahane was dropped on 1 by Kohli off Navdeep Saini but the skipper did not utilise on the reprieve as much as he would have liked, getting trapped by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/17). (Photo | PTI)
Buttler and Steve Smith (38) added 44 for the second wicket but Chahal struck again, dismissing the British batsman. (Photo | PTI)
Smith went on to add 50 runs for the third wicket with Rahul Tripathi (34 not out), who finished the match with a six in the penultimate ball of the match. (Photo | PTI)
Despite scoring 48 runs in their powerplay overs, RCB couldn't accelerate much, as Royals' leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal wrecked havoc by dismissing both Kohli and De Villiers cheaply. (Photo | PTI)
Gopal was introduced into the attack immediately after the sixth over and he began to trouble Kohli with his googlies. He eventually deceived the RCB skipper with one, which went through the gates.
Left-handed Shimron Hetmyer became Gopal's third victim when he edged one away-going delivery and Jos Buttler took a sharp catch behind the wicket. (Photo | PTI)
De Villiers faced another wrong one from the leggie which stopped a bit as the South African hit it straight back to Gopal, who bowled a rare wicket-maiden. (Photo | PTI)
Yuzvendra Chahal was the most economical bowler for RCB, as he took two scalps, while giving away just 17 runs in his four overs. (Photo | PTI)
