The match between Rajasthan and Bengaluru boys saw some repetition of patterns of their respective previous games. Rajasthan Royals failed to convert their brilliant opening partnership into a big score, and Royal Challengers’ bowlers just exploited the poor show by the remaining Rajasthan batters. Nevertheless, the match saw some exciting performances from both sides (from Rajasthan Royals, not so much). Let’s have a look at them.
Evin Lewis
When Lewis took the crease, it was already looking that Rajasthan might post the highest score of this UAE leg. Lewis hammered the Bangalore bowlers left, right & centre and built a commendable 77 run partnership with the young Yashasvi Jaiswal. The ace batter for Rajasthan in this match, Lewis scored 58 at a strike rate of 156, which consisted of eight boundaries. It was a shame that the rest of the squad failed to keep their nerves right after his dismissal.
Yuzvendra Chahal
The most experienced bowler of RCB lived to his tag in this match as well. It came out as a shock when Chahal was not even called for bowling in the first half of the RR batting. But the man proved to be clinical and completely stopped the batting pace of RR, which they enjoyed in their batting first half. His 11 dot balls and two wickets saw through that the RR’s middle-order remains ineffective.
Srikar Bharat
If you look at Srikar Bharat’s first-class record, you will easily question his place in a T20 squad. But his performances in this and the previous matches justifies his place in the team quickly. Moreover, the role of anchoring the partnership assigned to him is being very well executed and maybe a regular occurrence for the remainder of the tournament and can prove to be the key for Bangalore’s first IPL cup.
Glenn Maxwell
Punjab Kings are surely seething their teeth this season after looking at the form Maxwell is in. Not only is he winning matches for the team as a batsman, but he is also providing an extra bowling option to RCB. In this match, too, we saw some clean hitting (with some initially dropped chances by RR) by the big show, bringing his 4th fifty of this season and, unfortunately, at the same time helped Chris Morris reach his bowling 50.
Conclusion
There were lots of positive takeaways for Bangalore in this match. Their players shined in every department with the likes of Shahbaz Ahmed, and Harshal Patel helped bring the Rajasthan batters to knees in the first innings. Later on, the Bangalore batters just made the mockery of their opponents bowling line-up.
Sangakkara indeed must be questioning his men about their batting approach after the 11th over. The team went from 100/1 at the end of the 11th over to 149/9 in the following nine overs. ‘Disappointment ‘is the only word that comes to mind seeing how this squad leaves out the chances and makes their path more difficult for the playoffs.