Jaipur: Two Bangalore boys – Shreyas Gopal and Krishnappa Gowtham performed in tandem here Saturday as Rajasthan Royals (RR) ended Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) play-off aspirations with a 30-run win here. The win helped RR stay in contention for a play-off berth but for that they will now have to hope that results of other games go in their favour.
Gopal (4/16) produced his best IPL figures while Gowtham smacked 14 runs off Tim Southee in the 20th over and then bowled two overs of off-spin conceding only six runs and in the process snaring the vital wicket of Virat Kohli (4).
Earlier riding on fine knock from Rahul Tripath (80 n o, 58b, 5×4, 3×6), RR had posted a competitive 164 for five in their 20 overs. Then Gopal along with Ben Laughlin (2/15) and Jaydev Unadkat (2/27) did enough on a slow turning pitch to restrict RCB to 134 all out in 19.2 overs.
South African superstar AB de Villiers (53, 35b, 7×4) briefly threatened to take the game away in RCB’s favour but once Gopal had him stumped, it was curtains for the visitors. De Villiers and Parthiv Patel (33, 21b, 2×4, 3×6) had put on 55 runs for the second wicket, but then Gopal struck dismissing the later.
After Patel’s dismissal, RCB lost their last eight wickets for only 69 runs and their batsmen could never get going against the nagging length and line bowled by the RR bowlers.
RCB ended the tournament with 12 points from 14 matches to finish sixth in the standings while RR climbed to fourth spot with 14 points from an identical number of games.
Earlier, India pacer Umesh Yadav (3/25) once more bowled a superb spell to restrict Rajasthan. He got the scalps of key batsmen in the form of opener Jofra Archer (0), captain Ajinkya Rahane (33) and Sanju Samson (0), and though the Royals recovered from a slow start, they failed to get the final flourish.
The absence of Englishmen Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes, both of whom left the side for national duty, was felt during the must-win match.
Tripathi, however rose to the occasion with a fine knock. Rahane and Klassen (32, 21b, 3×4) made useful contributions at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. In fact it was Tripathi’s 99-run second wicket partnership with Rahane resurrected the RR innings after the slow start.
Brief scores
Rajasthan Royals 164/5 (Rahul Tripathi 80; Umesh Yadav 3/25) bt Royal Challengers Bangalore 134 in 19.2 overs (AB de Villiers 53; Shreyas Gopal 4/16) by 30 runs.
