Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals walked away with one point each after rains forced their match to end without a result. In Match 49 — a curtailed contest — played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 62-7 in their allotted five overs. In their chase, the Rajasthan Royals were 41-1 in 3.2 overs when the heavens opened up for a second time and forced the players off the field.
In the evening, the Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith won the toss and put the hosts in to bat. Just minutes prior to the 8 pm start, the heavens opened up and forced the players to remain indoors. It wasn’t until 11:26 pm that the match could begin; there was just enough time for a five-overs-a-side contest.
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers came out firing on all cylinders and took 23 off the first over. Virat hit the first two deliveries of the match into the stands — the first over long-off and the second over third man. When de Villiers got on strike, he collected boundaries off the first and third deliveries he faced.
There was plenty of action in the second over. Virat welcomed the leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal into the attack by hitting him for a boundary; but the bowler had the last laugh as he dismissed both Virat and de Villiers off successive deliveries, and competed a hat-trick with the dismissal of Marcus Stoinis. If RCB had the momentum after the first eight deliveries, Shreyas’ three blows saw the pendulum swing towards the Rajasthan Royals.
RCB added 10, 9 and 8 in the remaining three overs to finish at 62 for 7. For the Rajasthan Royals, Shreyas Gopal was the most successful bowler, while Oshane Thomas (2 for 6), Riyan Parag and Jaydev Unadkat chipped in with wickets.
The Rajasthan Royals’ opening pair of Sanju Samson (28 from 13 balls) and Liam Livingstone (11 not out from 7 balls) added 41 in 3.1 overs before the former was dismissed. Just as Samson was trudging off the ground, the skies opened up again and forced all the players to take shelter. There wasn’t enough time to resume and complete the remaining overs, and hence the match had to be declared ‘No Result’.
An important impact of this result was that it eliminated the Royal Challengers Bangalore from the race to the VIVO IPL 2019 playoffs.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 62-7 in 5.0 Overs (Virat Kohli 25, Shreyas Gopal 3-12, Oshane Thomas 2-6) Rajasthan Royals: 41-1 in 3.2 overs (Sanju Samson 28)
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