Indian Premier League 2022 Match 39 had Rajasthan Royals going up against Royal Challengers Bangalore, which they won by 29 runs in Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. It was a game of confidence for them as they finished with a strong but easy 144/8 whereas Bangalore broke in sweat with 115. For Rajasthan, Riyan Parag scored the highest with 56 not out off 31 balls while captain Sanju Samson contributed 27, proceeding to shoot out RCB for 115 in 19.3 overs. RCB’s Faf du Plessis scored the highest with 23 for the team. Kuldeep Sen took four wickets for 20 runs while Ravichandran Ashwin got three. Prasidh Krishna got two wickets. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore chose to field first after winning the toss. RR’s opening pair was Jos Buttler and Devdutta Paddikal in the middle. Shahbaz Ahmed started off with the proceedings for RCB and made a tidy start, sparing only 5 from the first over. Mohammed Siraj trapped Paddika in a form of comeback against being hit for a six on the first ball. He had executed his yorker perfectly and it was given out LBW, DDP reviewed it. Since it was pitching in line and crashing low into the middle-stump, three reds and Paddikal had to walk back, proceeding with a 7. 

R Ashwin was up as number three for Rajasthan and Siraj greeted him with an overpitched delivery on the pads and Ashwin hits it for a boundary. Ashwin played aggressively as he drove on the front foot for 4 runs against an off stump. Siraj’s first over gave away 14 runs along with a wicket. He definitely refused to go without a fight. RR’s Ashwin scored a third boundary in six deliveries after that and then a four against Mohammed’s short good length ball although his quick fire cameo came to a stop as he was in a haste by the bouncer. He departed for 17 and Siraj scored his second wicket. Sanju Samson then starts off with a boundary. He proceeds to smash back to back sixes off Ahmed’s bowling. This was six number 150 for RR’s Sanju in his IPL career. Hasaranga came in and took the limelight away from Samson for the fifth time in six innings. The latter tried to go for a reverse sweep but failed to get the bat on the ball. The skipper departed for 27. 

Parag went forward and drilled it back in SHahbaz’s over. Ravi Ashwin proceeded to score gorgeous boundaries. Daryl Mitchell’s IPL debut has not been very successful as succumbs to Josh Hazelwood for a 24-ball 16. Soon, by the end of 15th over, Rajasthan’s 100 was up. Hazelwood’s over was a beautiful one as he gave away only a single in his third over and got the wicket of Daryl. Wanindu removed Shimron for 3 and also got the big wicket of Shimron Hetmyer. Prabhudessai stayed flawless and Prasidh Krishna was run out. Suyash showed great game awareness as Hazelwood was absent from the stumps and no one was present to collect the throw either and thus he had decided to outrun Prasidh. Riyan’s knock of unbeaten 31-ball 56 helped Rajasthan Royals to put on 144 for 8 in 20 overs. It was a good comeback for the team as they recovered well from 110 for 7 in 17.1 overs.

For RCB, Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli were out in the middle with Trent Boult starting off the proceedings for RR. RCB was chasing 145 for victory. Virat Kohli goes off the mark with a boundary. Nine runs were scored off this over. RCB was left chasing 136 runs to win from 114 balls and soon enough Kohli runs out of luck as Krishna strikes. It took a short-pitched delivery from Prasidh to take an edge off Virat’s bat onto his helmet and straight to Riyan at point. He went short to Faf but the RCB skipper crunched it at the deep mid-wicket boundary. RCB required 123 runs in 96 balls. Trent Boult faced Fad next with a good length ball and he got on top of the ball and slammed the wide of mid-off for 4. 115 runs were left in 90 balls for the team. 

Ravichandran proceeds with his over against Faf, again with a good-length ball pitched on off stump as Plessis made room for himself and lofted it over the bowler’s head for a six. 84 balls were left with 108 to victory. Kuldeep Sen bowled to Rajat Patidar as he played aggressive pull shot on the front foot for 6 runs. Ashwin bowled the 12th over and took another wicket, pushing Bangalore to the verge of yet another defeat. Prabhudessai was caught by Parag. Krishna came in for his second spell and produced consistent WIDES to start. Shahbaz hit a huge six and amounted to 11 from that over as RCB accounted for 83/6 after 14 overs. 

Chahal bowled his 3rd over and spares a four to start. An exquisite placement by Wanindu Hasaranga but RCB needed more of that as they scored just 7 off that over. Kuldeep bowled the 17th over and Hasaranga promptly hit a 4. RCB scored back to back 2 runs from the next two balls but Kuldeep also managed to get his 3rd wicket. Bangalore was almost down for the count but Hasaranga got caught and bowled. Prasidh bowled the 18th over and Siraj hit a boundary but he was dismissed in the next ball, the team was down to their last man. 

It was over for RCB after Parag took out Patel and Kuldeep got his 4th wicket. Rajasthan defended a pretty low total and won by 29 runs. Bangalore finishes at 115 in 19.3 overs conceding yet another defeat.

It was an easy and low target to chase today but nonetheless good performance. Of course we would still be rooting for more!