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Kohli, Hazlewood lead RCB to comeback win over Rajasthan Royals

rugby24 April 2025 18:29| © MWP
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Josh Hazlewood claimed 4-33 to steer the Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a tense 11-run victory against the Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Virat Kohli’s brilliant 70 laid the platform for RCB’s 205-5 and, despite looking well on course for victory at 189-5 with nine balls remaining and two set batsmen, Hazlewood had Rajasthan’s Dhruv Jurel (47 from 34 balls) caught behind off an inside edge to trigger a collapse to 194-9.

Jurel pummelled 22 off the 18th over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to completely changed the tone of the run chase in favour of the Royals but Hazlewood’s calm execution in the death overs turned the match back in favour of the home side.

Earlier Kohli was at his controlling best gathering eight fours and two sixes at a pace he felt was in the team’s best interests, accelerating at the very end before toe-ending a drive against Jofra Archer to cover.

Devdutt Padikkal, however, was unbridled aggression from the start smashing a round 50 from just 27 balls (4x4, 3x6) mostly with straight drives and legside pick-ups and slog-sweeps.

Notorious ‘finisher’ Tim David was pushed up the order to No 4 at the start of the 16th over but was unable to fully ignite during an innings of 23 from 15 balls but ‘keeper Jitesh Sharma ensured the total passed 200 with an unbeaten 20 from 10 balls containing four boundaries.

Explosive English opener, Phil Salt, provided an indication that the pitch was not straightforward to bat on with an untypically subdued 26 from 23 balls.

Yashasvi Jaiswal launched an astonishing start to the run-chase with 49 from a mere 19 balls launching the first ball of the innings from Bhuvneshwar Kumar for six over square leg and barely holding back thereafter with another two sixes and seven fours in his savage innings.

Fellow left-handed opener, 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, clipped a brace of leg-side sixes in his 16 from 12 balls but it was Riyan Parag’s 22 from 10 balls (2x4, 2x6) which gave the Royals the boost they needed straight after the Power Play.

But RCB’s fightback with the ball proved decisive.

RCB move into a three-way tie at the top of the log with 12 points from their six wins from nine games, one more than fellow log-leaders Gujarat Titan and Delhin Capitals.

Rajasthan’s season, however, appears all but over with just two victories from their nine matches and remain marooned in last place alongside the Sunrisers Hyderabad and Chennai Super Kings with just four points.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU: Philip Salt, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar (capt), Devdutt Padikkal, Jitesh Sharma (wkt), Tim David, Krunal Pandya, Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Yash Dayal

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag (capt), Dhruv Jurel (wkt), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma

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