INDIA: In a closely contested encounter at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) emerged victorious by seven runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their IPL 2023 clash.
After being put into bat, RCB got off to a shaky start, losing two quick wickets, including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli. However, Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell came together and played blistering innings to add 127 runs for the third wicket.
Du Plessis was dismissed for a well-made 62 off 39 balls, while Maxwell smashed 77 off just 44 balls before being sent back to the pavilion by R. Ashwin.
The other RCB batters could not capitalise on the solid foundation laid by Du Plessis and Maxwell, and the team could only manage a total of 189/9 in their allotted 20 overs.
In response, RR got off to a disastrous start, losing Jos Butler early in their innings. However, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal steadied the ship and added a solid partnership to help their team reach 99 runs in 11.4 overs.
Padikkal lost his wicket to David Willey in the same over after reaching his half-century. Harshal Patel then removed Jaiswal to regain momentum in favour of RCB.
After the departure of Jaiswal and Padikkal, RR slowed down, and the asking rate started to climb. This resulted in them losing more wickets, including their skipper, Sanju Samson, and Shimron Hetmyer.
RR needed 20 runs from the final over to win the match, but they could only manage to score 12 runs, although Dhruv Jurel tried his best (34* off 16 balls). Eventually, RCB won the match by seven runs.
Overall, it was a thrilling encounter between the two teams, with RCB emerging victorious thanks to the brilliant batting performances of du Plessis and Maxwell and some good bowling by Harshal Patel, who took three wickets for 32 runs.
The Player of the Match award went to Glenn Maxwell for his fantastic innings that helped RCB post a challenging total.
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