IPL Highlights, Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Shreyas Gopal Shines For RR As RCB Crumble In Chase
The 24-year-old leg-spinner led a fine bowling display by the home side as it shot RCB out for just 134 in 19.2 overs.
Young Shreyas Gopal spun a web around a star-studded Royal Challengers Bangalore batting line-up with a brilliant four for 16, helping Rajasthan Royals to a 30-run victory to keep his side in the reckoning for a play-offs berth in the IPL in Jaipur on Saturday. The 24-year-old leg-spinner led a fine bowling display by the home side as it shot RCB out for just 134 in 19.2 overs after opening batsman Rahul Tripathi had helped the Royals post a competitive 164/5 with a solid unbeaten 80 off 58 balls. The Royals opted to bat in their final league game. South African superstar AB de Villiers briefly threatened to take the game away in RCB's favour with a 35-ball 53 but Gopal and his bowling colleagues ensured Royals' victory. Pacers Jaydev Unadkat and Ben Laughlin chipped in with two wickets apiece while off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham took one wicket as RCB's hopes for a play-offs berth went up in smokes. RCB ended the tournament with 12 points from 14 matches. They are now sixth in the standings.
Rahul Tripathi's unbeaten 80 and a 21-ball 32 cameo from Heinrich Klaasen helped Rajasthan Royals post a competitive 164 for five against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. Electing to bat, Rajasthan's experiment to promote Jofra Archer to the opening position failed miserably as the West Indian all-rounder was sent packing for a duck by Umesh Yadav in the second over. Captain Ajinkya Rahane (33) and Tripathi strung together a 99-run partnership for the second wicket to put Rajasthan in a strong position to some damage at the back end. But wickets of Rahane and Sanju Samnson (0) off consecutive balls, brought down Rajasthan's run-rate drastically. Klaasen three fours and a six in his brief cameo to push Rajasthan's score past 150 with Krishnappa Gowtham giving the hosts a solid finish with couple of lusty blows. (Play Fantasy cricket and win cash daily)
Bangalore boasts of a formidable batting line-up with the likes of Kohli, AB de Villiers, Parthiv Patel, Mandeep Singh and Moeen Ali, who came of age with an impressive 65 runs off 34 balls against SunRisers Hyderabad on Thursday. RCB will once again have to rely on De Villiers (427 runs) and Kohli (526 runs) to put up a good show and power them to a win. While Kohli failed against Hyderabad, De Villers blast 69 off 39 to help RCB post a massive total. However, they will have to correct their bowling performance in the middle overs if they want to restrict their oppositions. Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee will lead the pace attack while Yuzvendra Chahal will lead the spinning department. As far as RR are concerned, they will miss the services of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and their mentor Shane Warne. (SCORECARD)
Squads:
Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Brendon McCullum, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Quinton de Kock, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Manan Vohra, Kulwant Khejroliya, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Parthiv Patel (wk), Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee, Corey Anderson
Rajasthan Royals - Ajinkya Rahane(capt), Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson (wk), Rahul Tripathi, D'Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, , Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.
When and Where to Watch Rajasthan Royals (RR) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB)
India: TV: Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD (English, Hindi, Tamil). Live Streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: Sky Sports 2. Live Streaming: Sky Go and Watch Sky Sports.
Bangladesh: TV: GTV and Star Sports.
USA: TV: Willow TV. Live Streaming: Willow TV Live Online.
Australia: TV: Fox Sports. Live Streaming: Foxtel.
New Zealand: TV: Sky Sport 1. Live Streaming: Sky Go NZ.
South Africa: TV: SuperSport 2. Live Streaming: SuperSport Live Video.
Middle East: TV: OSN Sports Cricket. Live Streaming: OSN Play.
Singapore: TV: Star Cricket.
IPL 2018 Highlights, RR vs RCB
That's all from this game. Bangalore became the second team this season after Delhi to get knocked out. Now, the action shifts to the second game of the evening where Kolkata are facing Hyderabad. See you there!
Man of the Match, Shreyas Gopal says that he is feeling great. Mentions that he wouldn't have felt half as good if they had lost the game. States that there is no set plan in place for a batsman like ABD. Admits there was a little help from the wicket. Adds that he needed to keep varying and relied on his googlies and flippers. Praises his bowling partner, Gowtham for his brilliance. Feels that he is a great cricketing brain and he wants to pick as much as he can from him.
Victorious Rajasthan skipper, Ajinkya Rahane says that it was a much-needed victory for them. Mentions that they thought 160 would be tough to chase on this wicket. Credits his leggies for their amazing bowling and adds that it is not easy to bowl in the middle overs. States that the intention was to send Archer up the order and get the momentum. Adds that it allowed them to bat deeper. Feels it is important to play good cricket. Credits Klaasen for his good knock and is short of words for Tripathi's innings at the top of the order. Ends by saying that they will pray for the other results to go their way.
Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli says that it was a strange game for them. Adds that they were in a great position at one stage, 75/1, and the way they got bundled out wasn't ideal. Mentions that they needed to be smart regarding their decision-making and knock the ball around but 5-6 guys repeated the same mistakes. Admits that their middle order has not been their strength. Adds that they need to be wise about their team selection going ahead. Informs that AB de Villiers scored runs but the other guys didn't show enough composure. Credits Yadav, Chahal and Siraj for their good bowling. Feels that there are a lot of positives to take into the next season. Is disappointed that they couldn't finish the game. Stresses the fact that they were 75/1 at 8 overs and after that, they just lost their way which they shouldn't have. Ends by wishing the other teams best of luck for the final stage.
With the pitch assisting the spinners, Gopal didn't take long to strike the right chord. His lines and lengths along with clever variations were too hot to handle for Bangalore. He hunted down Parthiv Patel, Moeen Ali, Mandeep Singh and AB de Villiers in quick succession to make a complete mockery of the visiting side's middle order. Shreyas was ably assisted by Ish Sodhi, who also received ample support from the deck and created pressure from one end. The other bowlers were also very impressive and altogether it was a good show by Rajasthan, although they were a bit clumsy in the field.
A neat performance by Rajasthan to deliver the knockout punch to Bangalore! Chasing a target of 164 was always going to be a tricky task on this pitch and once Bangalore lost Kohli cheaply, it became trickier. However, Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers stitched in a 55-run stand to keep the chase on track for the visiting team, the introduction of Shreyas Gopal changed things big time for the home team.
OUT! BANGALORE ARE KNOCKED OUT! Unadkat angles in a slower length ball around off, Siraj tries to heave it over mid-wicket but gets more height than distance. Samson from deep square leg and Gowtham from deep mid-wicket rush towards the chance. The former goes for the catch but it pops out from his hands at the last moment. However, the latter has it covered. He takes it on the rebound to put a full stop to Bangalore's campaign. RAJASTHAN WIN BY 30 RUNS! Amazing victory!
FOUR! Unadkat angles in a length ball around off, Siraj reverse sweeps it past the short third man fielder for a boundary.
Full and angling down, following the batsman, Chahal drives it back. 35 needed off 6 balls. Hmm...
Short and outside off, Chahal bottom edges his attempted shot.