In the IPL clash on Sunday, April 15, the Rajasthan Royals defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs. This was RR’s second win in their third game, while it was the second defeat in the tournament for the RCB in their third match.
Batting first on the M. Chinnaswamy wicket the Rajasthan Royals made their second highest total ever- a whopping 217 runs and lost only 4 wickets in the process. Prior to this the Rajasthan side had made 223/5 against the Chennai Super Kings back in the 2010 edition of the league. In reply to Rajasthan’s 217, RCB, who had donned the green color jersey in support of the Go Green Campaign, could only manage 198/6, 19 short of the RR total, losing their 5th match in their green avatar.
This was Rajasthan’s 8th win against Bengaluru in the 18 occasions the two teams have faced each other. Rajasthan’s Sanju Samson, who played a brilliant knock and remained unbeaten on 92 off 45 deliveries, helped his side reach the match-winning total. He was adjudged the man of the match. Sanju’s innings was studded with as many as 10 sixes, the highest for any Rajasthan batsman in the tournament.
Although RCB skipper Virat Kohli made a good looking 57 off 30 balls, it just wasn’t enough on the day and one of their Top 4 batsmen- Brendon McCullum, Quinton de Kock, Virat Kohli or AB de Villiers needed to stay there in the middle till the end and help RCB cross the line.
Since all of them departed early, Bangalore couldn’t quite win the game despite Mandeep Singh (47* off 25) and Washington Sundar’s (35 off 19) brave efforts.
