IPL 2022, RR vs RCB, Top Performances: Riyan Parag's 56*, Kuldeep Sen's 4-20, Hasaranga-Hazlewood two-fers are top three performances from RR vs RCB game.
Brief Scores: RR 144-8 (Parag 56*, Hasaranga 2-23, Hazlewood 2-19) beat RCB 115 (Faf du Plessis 23, Kuldeep 4-20, Ashwin 3-17) by 29 runs
Player of the Match: Riyan Parag (56* & 4 catches)
Rajasthan Royals (RR), who were third in the points table before the game, were up against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), who after a special start had slipped to number five in the points table, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium (MCA) in Pune on Tuesday evening.
RCB, besides having an upper hand of 13-10 over RR, have won each of their last five encounters against the Royals. In their first face-off in IPL 2022, Bangalore conquered Rajasthan by four wickets in Mumbai.
Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to take the field. While they brought Rajat Patidar in the side, Royals handed an IPL debut cap to Daryl Mitchell besides adding Kuldeep Sen back in the eleven.
Rajasthan Royals tops the points table with superb bowling performance
It was an evening when Bangalore clearly brought out the chinks in Rajasthan’s batting line-up. Put in to bat first, Bangalore destroyed the RR top-order pushing them to 33-3 in a matter of a mere 4.1 overs; the moment Jos Buttler was dismissed, the Royals had lost their path. They kept on losing wickets and slid to 110-7 in 17.1 overs, before 20-year-old Assam batter, Riyan Parag clubbed the bowlers all around the park to register his second IPL half-century as Rajasthan finished at 144-8 in their 20 overs.
Just like the Royals, Bangalore didn’t start well as they lost Virat Kohli, who opened tonight, for a personal score of just 9. They kept on losing wickets regularly being stuck at 66-5 in 11.4 overs. The moment Dinesh Karthik was sent back thanks to a run out, the dream of chasing this total vanished for RCB. Ravichandran Ashwin broke the back of RCB middle-order and picked up his 150th IPL wicket, in the process, after young Kuldeep Sen had shocked Bangalore with huge wickets of Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell. RCB were bundled out for 115 and gifted RR a 29-run victory.
Riyan Parag became just the fourth person to score 50+ runs and grab four catches in an IPL game.
Let’s scan the top three performances from the game between RCB and RR.
Half-centurion Parag propelled Rajasthan to a respectable score
Rajasthan, after losing their in form batter, Jos Buttler, were struggling at 68-4 in 9.3 overs, when Riyan Parag on whom Rajasthan Royals had shown a lot of faith over the course of the tournament, walked out to the middle.
He began the evening in a positive manner with a six on just his fourth ball before cracking a boundary in the same over delivered by Shahbaz Ahmed. Since then, Rajasthan again started to lose wickets at regular intervals, as Parag slowed down for a while being at 26 off 21.
But with just 12 balls in hand, he went back to the fierce mode. The 20-year-old Assam right-hander, whom the Royals bagged for INR 3.80 crores in the auction, grabbed 12 runs in the 19th over, before collecting 18 more in the last over.
Parag, who had just 50 runs in three innings against RCB, went on to deposit his second IPL fifty in just 29 balls as Rajasthan Royals finished with 144-8.
Hasaranga-Hazlewood broke Royals’ back with crucial wickets
The best possible way to get rid of the potent batting of Rajasthan Royals was taking wickets upfront and putting their middle-order under pressure and Hazlewood and Hasaranga did it superbly. Taken together, their spell read as 8-1-42-4.
Josh Hazelwood sent back ‘big fish’, Jos Buttler, the Orange Cap holder, with 499 runs under his belt, thanks to an absolute ripper. This was the first time, Hazlewood dismissed Buttler who now has just 14 runs from 14 balls against Josh, who later went on to end a disappointing IPL debut for Daryl Mitchell, dismissing him for a personal score of 16 off 24 balls.
Hazlewood’s persistent hard length was hard to counter for RR batters as the Australian, whom Bangalore added for INR 7.75 crores, finished with 2-19 from his four overs.
The Sri Lankan leg-spinner, Wanindu Hasaranga was called into the attack in the sixth over as RR skipper Sanju Samson greeted him with a six followed by a boundary. But Hasaranga got his revenge back as he got rid of Samson on a personal score of 27. This was the fifth time the spinner had the best of Samson in T20s, spending just 18 runs in 23 balls. Hasaranga also drew the end of a frustrated Shimron Hetmyer at a personal score of 3; Hetmyer tried to get out of the jail but found the fielder at deep mid-wicket. This was the first time Hetmyer was undone by Hasaranga.
The four wickets picked up by Hasaranga and Hazlewood, at important points of the game, helped Bangalore in bossing the game early on.
Read More: IPL 2022, RCB vs SRH, Top Performances: Jansen, Natarajan 3-fers diminish RCB to 68; SRH at number 2
Kuldeep Sen disabled Bangalore with early wickets
After Prasidh Krishna took the wicket of Virat Kohli early on, young Kuldeep Sen came back to shock Bangalore with huge wickets in the powerplay.
Just after the end of the powerplay, the 25-year-old pacer from Madhya Pradesh picked up two enormous wickets in the form of opponent captain Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell. The former, on 23, slashed the ball straight to the cover fielder while Maxwell got dismissed for a golden duck as he edged the ball to the slip fielder.
When Kuldeep came back later, he sent back Hasaranga with a length ball that climbed on the batter. Sen’s fourth wicket came in the form of Harshal Patel, who found the long on fielder, as Bangalore were packed up for 115 to gift the Royals a 29-run victory.
Kuldeep Sen finished with 4-20 and played a huge role in the victory.
Ravichandran Ashwin, in the middle overs, too helped Kuldeep in the cause by taking three wickets besides stopping the run flow. The India veteran, in this process, also became the highest wicket-taker in IPL as an off-spinner with 152 wickets. The spell he bowled with figures of 3-17, was also a turning point in helping Rajasthan to the top of the table with 12 points.
Read More: IPL 2022, DC vs RR, Top Performances: Krishna 3-22, Buttler 116 help RR win despite last over drama
TATA IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to come
The second-placed Gujarat Titans (GT) will lock horns with the third-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who are on a five-game winning streak at the iconic Wankhede Stadium on April 27.
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