IPL 8 Eliminator, RCB vs RR Highlights: Bangalore Crush Rajasthan by 71 Runs
Royal Challengers Bangalore will face Chennai Super Kings in the Qualifier 2 after a comfortable 71-run win over Rajasthan Royals. Catch all highlights of the match.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have taken their win-loss record to 8-7 against Rajasthan Royals with a resounding victory. Catch all the highlights of the match here: (Scorecard | Fixtures | IPL 2015 stats)
23:28 (IST): That's it! Bangalore have won the contest by 71 runs and they will now face Chennai Super Kings for a place in the final. What a convincing victory for Bangalore. Rajasthan never really looked to score and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Rahane was the only RR batsman to score a few runs but he too only managed 42 and that meant they were always going to fall well short. The bowlers did well defending this along with excellent catching and fielding in the deep.
23:08 (IST): James Faulkner gone for 4 and Sreenath Aravind gets his second wicket. Stuart Binny too bites the dust after being run out by Yuzvendra Chahal for a duck.
23:02 (IST): WICKET! Ajinkya Rahane falls for 42 and it has most likely ended Rajasthan's this year's campaign. Flighted length ball on off, Rahane goes for the slog sweep, only gets the height and not the distance. The ball skies high in the air towards mid-wicket and AB de Villiers grabs it easily.
22:50 (IST): WICKET! Karun Nair dismissed for 12 as Harshal Patel bags his second wicket. Nair was looking to cut it past point but ends up getting a thick outside edge. Karthik makes no mistake gloving it.
22:45 (IST): DROPPED! Ajinkya Rahane is dropped on 32 by Dinesh Karthik. Rahane was aiming to go over mid-wicket, gets a top edge which flies past Karthik's right hand.
22:32 (IST): WICKET! Steve Smith out and it's a big blow for Rajasthan. David Wiese bowls a length ball outside off, Smith chips down the track and goes after it, gets the height but not the distance. AB de Villiers claims it easily at sweeper cover and RR are in trouble now.
22:13 (IST): WICKET! Sanju Samson departs after scoring only five. Harshal Patel strikes and it's curtains for Samson! Shortish delivery outside off, Samson tries to upper cut it over the slip region but ends up getting an edge onto it and Karthik takes a comfortable catch.
© BCCI
22:00 (IST): WICKET! Sreenath Aravind gets Shane Watson for 10. Watson is walking back to the hut! Sreenath Aravind bowls a length ball, angling away outside off, Watson flashes hard at it, gets a thick outside edge and Dinesh Karthik accepts it with ease.
21:54 (IST): Rajasthan openers Shane Watson and Ajinkya Rahane are out in the middle. Mitchell Starc takes the new ball.
21:35 (IST): That's the end of the first innings. Thanks to AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh's 113-run stand, Bangalore put on board a challenging 180 for four against Rajasthan. Excellent total on the board courtesy a good partnership by Mandeep Singh (unbeaten on 54)and AB de Villiers (66). It was a good start given by the Bangalore openers, Gayle was striking good and Kohli looked calm but once both of them departed the scoring drop down miserably. De Villiers and Mandeep did some good rebuilding and then started smashing plenty of boundaries in the last five overs. With the ball, Dhawal Kulkarni was the star performer.
21:32 (IST): WICKET! Dinesh Karthik out. Dinesh Karthik departs trying to score quickly! Chris Morris bowls a short ball on off, Karthik goes after it with a pull and gets a top edge towards long off. Ajinkya Rahane does no mistake catching it.
21:31 (IST): FIFTY! Mandeep Singh scores his fourth half-century.
21:30 (IST): WICKET! AB de Villiers is run out for 66. Mandeep Singh drives it towards long on and they go for a risky second run. Stuart Binny returns a good quick throw to James Faulkner, who whips off the bails well before AB drags his bat in.
© BCCI
21:23 (IST): FIFTY! AB de Villiers reaches his 15th half-century in style as he top edges for a huge six to reach the landmark. AB took 34 balls to reach the milestone.
21:10 (IST): AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh have added 67 runs for the third wicket. All eyes are on AB as RCB aim for a respectable total.
20:37 (IST): WICKET! Dhawal Kulkarni strikes again and gets captain Virat Kohli for 12. Kulkarni is scalping big boys here! Length ball outside off, stops a bit after pitching, Kohli tries to tap it away on the leg side but only manages a leading edge that goes back and straight to the hands of the bowler.
© BCCI
20:28 (IST): WICKET! Chris Gayle bowled by Dhawal Kulkarni for 27. Middle stump is uprooted. Full ball on middle, Gayle chips down the track and goes with a swing of the bat, he fails to connect and the ball meets timber. First blow for Bangalore!
20:14 (IST): Citing their first breakthrough, Rajasthan have used four different bowlers so far.
20:07 (IST): James Faulkner joins Chris Morris. It's been a quiet start for Bangalore with Chris Gayle surviving a close run out chance. Gayle nudges it to fine leg and reaches half way down the pitch for the second run, Kohli was totally uninterested and denies it. Gayle had given up reaching back but Sanju Samson does not strike a direct hit at the bowler's end. He was on seven.
20:04 (IST): Chris Gayle gets off the mark with a four towards long off off Chris Morris.
19:38 (IST): TEAMS
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Mandeep Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Sarfaraz Khan, David Wiese, Mitchell Starc, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal, Sreenath Aravind
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, Sanju Samson, Karun Nair, Deepak Hooda, James Faulkner, Stuart Binny, Chris Morris, Ankit Sharma, Dhawal Kulkarni
19:34 (IST): TOSS! Virat Kohli has won the toss and Bangalore will bat first. RCB bring Sreenath Aravind in place of Dinda.
Meanwhile, the IPL has once again turned to be a great platform for discarded cricketers. Harbhajan Singh, who snared two crucial wickets in Mumbai Indians' victory over Chennai Super Kings, was rewarded with a Test berth on the tour of Bangladesh. The 34-year old had played the last of his 101Tests against Australia in March 2013.
Both Bangalore and Rajasthan had their fair share of losses in the ongoing season. While Rajasthan managed to sneak into the top four in the last minute, Bangalore team was helped by a late surge which turned the tide in their favour. Kohli's side finished third after the league stages courtesy seven wins as against their five defeats. A team both revered and feared for its batting line-up, Bangalore would once again hope for the top-three in Chris Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers to fire at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. (Five key battles to watch out for)
Bowling will once again revolve around the youthful skill and exuberance of pacer Mitchell Starc and spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. While the Aussie has picked 18 wickets so far, the young spinner has claimed 19. The two will surely be a threat to Rajasthan's consistent batting. (Also read: Kohli escapes BCCI ire after meeting girlfriend during match)
Factoids:
* Bangalore and Rajasthan have won seven matches each against one another in all IPLs.
* RCB have taken 86 wickets during the league games this year - second only to Chennai Super Kings.
* Rajasthan have claimed 69 wickets.
* RCB have scored at 9.4 an over - the quickest rate of scoring this season. Royals are fourth with 8.53.
* RCB have won both their matches at Pune. Rajasthan have won two out of three here.
There is less pomp but a whole lot of power behind Rajasthan's batting. Ajinkya Rahane has hit 498 runs this season and is second only to David Warner who slammed 562. With an eye out for the Purple cap, Rahane will once again look to lash out in his usual controlled way. Giving him support would be the likes of Steve Smith (281 runs) and Shane Watson (337 runs).
The bowling is one to be feared as well. The unit may not have one standout bowler but as a combined force, the team can knock the wind out of any opposition. The men to watch out in particular though would be James Faulkner and Watson.