Bengaluru: Splendid fifties by Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis, besides Harshal Patel's 3/32 helped Royal Challengers Bangalore scrape through with 7-run victory against Rajasthan Royals at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.
Sent into bat, Bangalore put on 189/9, and in reply, Rajasthan could muster up 182/6 as the pitch became slower, making scoring difficult for the batsmen.
Bangalore began their defence with Mohammad Siraj cleaning up Jos Buttler for a duck, but Devdutt Padikkal (52 off 34 7x4s 1x6) and Yashavi Jaiswal (47 off 37 5x4s 2x6s) batted beautifully and brought cheers to the visitors.
Padikkal, especially was in great touch as he executed some exquisite strokes against Vyshak Vijaykumar and Maxwell.
Jaiswal too played some superb shots, but snoozed up nearing his fifty, which cost Rajasthan heavily as the visitors did not get any boundary between 11 to 15 overs. Jaiswal and Padikkal then tried to up the ante but succumbed in the process.
Sanju Samson (22 off 15 2x4s 1x6) and Shimron Hetmyer (3 off 9) had an off day, but Dhruv Jurel (34* off 16, 2x4s 2x6s) kept the hopes alive with his onslaught at the end.
However, that was not enough as the asking rate bloated for Rajasthan and in the process, Ashwin lost his wicket after scoring 12 off 6.
Amidst all this, the contribution from David Willey (1/26), Siraj (1/39), Vyshak (0/24) and Wanindu Hasaranga (0/32), was commendable who tightened things for Rajasthan.
Earlier, Maxwell made 77 off 44 balls with the help of six boundaries and four maximums, while Faf got 62 off 39 balls after he smashed eight boundaries and two maximums.
The duo also built a crucial 127 runs partnership for the third wicket after Bangalore were reeling at 12/2 after losing Virat Kohli for a first ball duck in the second Green-jersey match and Shahbaz Ahmed for 2.
Both the prize wickets were taken by Trent Boult.
Faf took on pacer Sandeep Sharma, hitting two sixes and a boundary off his over. Ravichandran Ashwin proved expensive, conceding 12 off his first over as Bangalore ended powerplay at 62/2.
Maxwell got his fifty off just 26 balls and Faf followed suit to his fifty a couple of overs later. At this stage, Banglore were poised to get to a total of 232 runs, but Rajasthan made a terrific comeback. In the last five overs, they just conceded 33 runs.
Maxwell's wicket changed the dimension of the game as Bangalore collapsed thereafter, and just when Rajasthan were feeling the pressure, Jaiswal came up with a terrific direct-hit to get Faf runout.
Ashwin then scalped Maxwell in his last ball of his spell, and Bangalore never recovered from there onwards.
For Rajasthan, Boult and Yazuvendra Chahal were brilliant, especially the spinner who botched up Bangalore batsmen by bowling wider outside off stump and slower.
The fielding from Rajasthan also was outstanding as they saved at least 10 to 15 runs by throwing themselves near the boundary rope. (UNI)
