Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 10 wicket win against Rajasthan Royals was the kind of dominating performance you rarely see in the T20s, especially in the Indian Premier League.
RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first. Manan Vohra and Jos Buttler opened to batting for RR but failed to provide a good opening stand as Buttler was bowled by Mohammad Siraj in the third over, and Manan Vohra was caught off Jamieson in the fourth. David Miller was out for a duck as captain Virat Kohli reviewed the on-field umpire’s LBW decision. It was a brilliant yorker by Siraj that was crashing into the stumps. As he so often does, Sanju Samson hit some glorious shots but got out for a soft dismissal hitting the ball straight to Glenn Maxwell at mid-wicket.
Shivam Dube and Rahul Tewatia were RR’s stars for the night, scoring 46 and 40, respectively. Glenn Maxwell held on to a good forward diving catch to send the dangerous Dube back to the pavilion. Tewatia came in when the score was 109/5 and managed to get it to 170 before getting out in the 19th over. Chetan Sakariya got out on the very next ball by edging the ball high in the air. Harshal Patel’s slower ball did the trick, and keeper AB de Villers took a diving catch to ensure that Harshal Patel was on a hattrick. Shreyal Gopal hit a six in the last over to take the total to a respectable 177 runs.
Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal opened the innings for RCB. Kohli took the strike and hit the fourth ball for a trademark Kohli loft for a six. Padikkal was placing the ball with scary precision. The two boundaries he hit off Morris on the offside told the world that this would be his day. Scoring at about 200 runs per 100 balls, Padikkal got RCB to 59 at the end of the powerplay. The acceleration only continued, and he bought up his fifty with a four. At the end of 10 overs, RCB was at 107/0 with Padikkal on 80 off 36 balls. Kohli had scored around run-a-ball till this point, but he slowly switched gears. Hitting the ball with sublime timing, the Kohli we dream of seeing was on show. Making a cradle with his hands, he dedicated his half-century to his newborn daughter. He also became the first batsman to reach the remarkable milestone of 6000 IPL runs.
Padikkal bought up his maiden century by smashing drive through covers for four. The determination on his face was visible, and it was clear it meant a lot to him. Scoring 101 in 52 balls, he became the third-youngest player to hit a century in the IPL. It was an absolutely dominating performance as they chased the target down in just 16.3 overs. Padikkal was deservedly declared the Player of the Match.
