After opting to bat first, skipper Faf du Plessis (55 off 44) and Glenn Maxwell (54 of 33) scored half-centuries to help RCB post a competitive 171 for five.
Their bowlers, led by Wayne Parnell (3/10), then put up a scintillating display to bowl out Rajasthan for a paltry 59 in 10.3 overs – the third lowest total in the history of IPL. Spinners Michael Bracewell (2/16) and Karn Sharma (2/19) picked two wickets each.
Earlier, Du Plessis and Maxwell stitched a 69-run partnership for the second wicket to set the platform for the Challengers. But the middle order once again failed to fire as RCB lost four wickets for just 18 runs. Leg-spinner Adam Zampa and medium-pacer KM Asif bagged two scalps each for Rajasthan.
“Really good for our NRR. Tough pitch. We batted first and assessed the conditions. We batted in the powerplay and thought 160 will be a good score. We have had a good set up till the 15th over. But we managed to capitalize on the momentum shift at the end. Great job,” said RCB skipper Du Plessis in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“Bracewell would want to bowl on this every day of the week. We needed a left-arm spinner. May be Shahbaz could have been an option. Wrist spin could have been an attacking option. Hopefully, we can set it up for the last game at the Chinnaswamy. Today was a good one for the team. They needed this confidence to go into the last two games,” he added.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Job done in ten and a half overs ?
points in the bag and a significant boost to our Net Run Rate! ?#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/I9TKdIYO7d
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 14, 2023
.@WayneParnell ran through #RR's top order and scalped an economical-wicket haul as he becomes our ? performer from the second innings ????
A look at his bowling summary ? #TATAIPL | #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/Eh6At69RQB
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 14, 2023
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