The Royal Rumble: RR VS RCB😎

Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore notched up a comprehensive 112-run win over Rajasthan Royals to strengthen their IPL play-off chances, on Sunday. Opting to bat, skipper Faf du Plessis (55 off 44) and Glenn Maxwell (54 of 33) scored half-centuries to help RCB post a competitive 171 for five. Their bowlers, led Wayne Parnell (3/10) then put up scintillating display to bowl out Rajasthan for a paltry 59 in 10.3 overs. Michael Bracewell (2/16)and Karn Sharma (2/19) picked two wickets each.

Earlier, du Plessis and Maxwell stitched a 69-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform for the total. But the middle order once again failed to fire as RCB lost four wickets for just 18 runs. Both teams were looking for two points in this game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals. However, if the situation arises, the teams would have also had an eye on the Net Run Rate. Now, RCB has gained a major boost in this regard as they got a big win in Jaipur.

RCB defeat RR by a huge margin of 112 runs to boost their NRR

The points table in IPL 2023 has been tight in the middle. Hence, the Net Run Rate is important and the Bangalore-based outfit was lagging in this regard. However, against RR, the bowlers came up with their best performance to give a solid spike for RCB. With this win, not only has RCB gained two points and confidence, they now have a good NRR to make a case for the playoffs.

It was a complete bowling performance by RCB that helped them win the encounter. All the bowlers who operated for RCB picked up a wicket. Wayne Parnell and Michael Bracewell were brilliant while on the field, there was brilliant work done by the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Anuj Rawat to help the team cross the line. With this big win, the tournament has opened up yet again and we can now expect the likes of Mumbai Indians and LSG to come under the fire.  RCB have done themselves a huge favour.

They are into the positive as far as the NRR is concerned. RR have slipped a few places on the table. Remember the 49 that comes up every time RCB has a collapse. RR will have a similar story to tell after this. Both teams needed a win. RCB were the hungrier one it seems. The next game is between KKR and CSK. A win for KKR will again make for an interesting table. But CSK will qualify if they win. Every game is an event. Every ball from here on counts.

RR’s batting unit struggled during the chase as they were restricted to 59 runs in 10.3 overs. Wayne Parnell took three wickets, while Michael Bracewell and Karn Sharma took two each, and Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell picked one each. Ahead of the game, RCB head coach Sanjay Bangar admitted that his team is struggling owing to a lack of depth, which is the cause of their inconsistent performance in the 2023 IPL. According to the former Indian cricketer, the team has been falling short by 10-15 runs in each encounter due to a dearth of powerful hitters in the lower middle order.

Winning Skipper, Faf du Plessis said:

Really good for our NRR. Tough pitch. We batted first and assessed the conditions. We batted in the powerplay and thought 160 will be a good score. We have had a good set up till the 15th over. But we managed to capitalize on the momentum shift at the end. Great job. Bracewell would want to bowl on this every day of the week. We needed a left-arm spinner. May be Shahbaz could have been an option. Wrist spin could have been an attacking option. Hopefully, we can set it up for the last game at the Chinnaswamy. Today was a good one for the team. They needed this confidence to go into the last two games.

Losing Skipper, Sanju Samson said:

I think our top three were scoring a lot of runs, we go hard in the powerplay but it didn’t come out today. I think it’s too soon to analyze or dissect the game. You need to go hard in the powerplay knowing the ball was getting slower and older, that’s the way me, Jaiswal and Jos have played throughout. Credit to the RCB bowlers for their energy and intensity. I think this was a target that could have gone to the wire, I expected a tight match if we had a decent powerplay. I was just thinking seeing the batting collapse where we went wrong? I don’t think I have an answer to that yet.

We all know the nature of the IPL, we’ve seen some funny things happen in the league stage. We have to keep strong, take a day off and think about the game in Dharamshala. I think we need to end on a strong note. We have to take responsibility on the whole as a team for this performance.

Wayne Parnell (3/10), Player of the Match said:

Obviously, credit to our batters. The last over gave us momentum. We could execute well. The message was to take pace off the ball. Bowl it at the sticks. We were able to execute everything. The surface was low, slow and skiddy. Was trying to make them play across the line. When I wasn’t playing, I was preparing. It is a long tournament and you need to be switched on every game.