Press Trust of India
Bangalore, April 29: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were denied by a win as a huge downpour disrupted their game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) here Wednesday. Both teams were given one point each.
This is the second consecutive time for RR that rain played spoilsport in their match. Earlier, in Kolkata, RR’s match was abandoned against the home side without a single ball being bowled. But in this case, they had a minimal chance for win as they had to chase a mammoth total of 201 runs for win.
Earlier in the day, in spite of losing the wickets of Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli early, RCB put up an imposing score of 200 for the loss of seven wickets. AB de Villiers (57, 45b, 9×4, 1×6) led the recovery and he was well-supported by the middle-order. Mandeep Singh (27, 20b, 4×4), Dinesh Karthik (27, 18b, 3×4, 1×6) and some blistering hitting by Sarfaraz Khan (45 n o, 21b, 6×4, 1×6 ) took the hosts to a position of command on the batting-friendly pitch.
Except Tim Southee (2/32), none of the RR bowlers put up some resistance against the hosts. After Kohli’s dismissal, De Villiers and Mandeep put on 74 runs for the third wicket to establish a solid platform for RCB. After that he added another 31 runs with Karthik before being run out. Karthik in an aggressive mood hit Stuart Binny two boundaries and a six in the 13th over of the innings.
The real impetus however, came from Sarfraz as he smashed the RR bowlers to all parts of the ground with some brilliant all-round hitting. He was particularly severe on the RR captain, Shane Watson, hitting the bowler for three boundaries in the 17th over of the innings.
Brief scores
RCB 200 for 7 (AB de Villiers 57, Sarfaraz Khan 45 n o, Tim Southee 2/32) versus RR. Match abandoned.
