Ahmedabad, May 27 (IANS): Excellent bowling performance by Prasidh Krishna (3/22) and Obed McCoy (3/23) helped Rajasthan Royals restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 157/8 despite a fighting fifty by Rajat Patidar (58 off 42) in the Qualifier 2 of the IPL 2022 at Narendra Modi Stadium, here on Friday.
Apart from Prasidh and McCoy, Trent Boult (1/28), Ravichandran Ashwin (1/31) also chipped in with one each for Rajasthan while the likes of Faf du Plessis (25 off 25) and Glenn Maxwell (24 off 13) were the only main contributors with the bat for RCB besides Patidar.
Put into bat first, RCB had a poor start as Virat Kohli perished early for just 7 runs in the second over, bowled by Prasidh Krishna. Kohli's early departure led to RCB's last match hero -- Rajat Patidar's arrival in the middle. He joined captain Faf du Plessis and they batted sensibly and picked boundaries at regular intervals, taking RCB to 46/1 at the end of powerplay.
During the process, Patidar was dropped by Riyan Parag at backward point in Prasidh's over when the batter was on 13. Taking the advantage of the dropped catch, Patidar continued batting with freedom even after the powerplay and hit few excellent boundaries.
On the other hand, Du Plessis who was being tied down by RR's spin twins of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal but RCB were still going at a brisk rate. It was Obed McCoy, who gave Rajasthan the next wicket after the pacer got rid of Faf du Plessis, who looked to go big but ended up mistiming the shot and was caught by R Ashwin.
Faf du Plessis who was being tied down by RR's spin twins has finally been dismissed. Obed McCoy with the wicket. The RCB skipper looks to go big but ends up mistiming the shot and gets caught by R Ashwin, leaving Bangalore to 79-2 after 10.4 overs.
Glenn Maxwell, who came to bat next, showed his aggressive intent and targeted Ashwin and Chahal, hitting them for once six each. The Australian batter was threatening to give RCB's scoring rate a big push but Boult removed Maxwell courtesy a fine catch by McCoy in the fine leg region.
Despite losing wickets from the other end, Patidar continued his impressive run and reached his fifty in 40 deliveries. However, he couldn't carry longer and departed soon after scoring a crucial fifty as Jos Buttler took an excellent catch near the ropes.
Dinesh Karthik then joined Mahipal Lomror in the middle as Bangalore were eyeing a strong finish in the last four overs. But Lomror failed to deliver and got out to Obed McCoy after scoring just 8 overs.
Prasidh then dismissed Dinesh Karthik (6) and Wanindu Hasaranga (0) in the first two deliveries of the 19th over to derail RCB's innings. McCoy, who came to bowl the last over, conceded just three runs and restricted RCB to 157/8 in 20 overs.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 157/8 in 20 Overs (Rajat Patidar 58, Faf du Plessis 25; Prasidh Krishna 3/22, Obed McCoy 3/23) vs Rajasthan Royals