It was a game in which big guns with the bat from both the sides flopped but Rajasthan showed immense resolve and discipline to eke out a 29-run win over Bangalore, in the Match No 39 of the ongoing Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Tuesday.
Rajasthan put on a moderate total of 144/8 batting first after Bangalore won the toss and invited their opponents to have a go first, restricting the 2008 title winners to a total which was easily achievable given the circumstances and conditions at the MCA Stadium in Pune.
But Bangalore batsmen continued to misfire in unison -- they bowled out for 115 with Faf du Plessis top scoring with 23 in the chase as Rajasthan recorded a narrow but morale-boosting victory by 29 runs, which pushed them to the top of the points table in the Indian T20 cricket League 2022.
It was for the second match on the trot that Bangalore batsmen had a hard time in the middle -- in the previous game against Hyderabad they were bowled out for 68 to record the lowest total by any side in the 15th edition of the world's biggest T20 cricket League.
The former India and Bangalore captain Virat Kohli continued to have a torrid time with the bat. For someone who was dismissed on first ball duck for the last two innings, Kohli did well to get off the mark this time around but could not play convincingly enough for his brief stay to make 9 runs from 10 balls, inclusive of two boundaries.
It all began with Mohammed Siraj making a strong mark in the contest at the start. The right-arm India fast bowler had Devdutt Padikkal trapped leg-before for 7 and also applied brakes on Rajasthan’s makeshift No 3 Ravichandran Ashwin, who was looking aggressive having already hit 4 boundaries to make 17 from 9 balls.
Mohammad Siraj was in action once again when he caught the dangerous Rajasthan opening batsman Jos Buttler at mid-on off Josh Hazlewood, leaving Rajasthan struggling at 33/3 in 4.1 overs.
Rajasthan could never really recover from losing their chunk of batting in the powerplay, as a steady flow of wickets kept them under the 150-run mark despite a fightback from the 20-year-old all-rounder Riyan Parag.
Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson tried to play a counter-attacking innings but Wanindu Hasaranga cleaned up the right-handed batsman after he had made 27 from 21 balls with the help of 1 boundary and 3 sixes.
Riyan Parag, who has been on and off for Rajasthan with the bat so far in the competition, remained unbeaten on 56 from 31 balls with the help of 4 sixes and 3 boundaries to push his team’s total to 144/8, which in the end, proved to be more than enough against Bangalore.
For Bangalore, Josh Hazlewood was once again the star with the ball returning with 4-1-19-2 whereas Mohammed Siraj and Wanindu Hasaranga also took a couple of wickets. Harshal Patel claimed 1 wicket in his four-over spell.
In the reply, Bangalore were off to a shaky start once again when Virat Kohli was caught by Riyan Parag off Prasidh Krishna for 9, and they lost two wickets in as many balls when Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell were dismissed on consecutive deliveries of the 8th over to be reduced to 37/3.
Unlike Rajasthan, Bangalore could not find any of their batsmen dropping the anchor and holding their innings together after losing the first three wickets. The Bengal all-rounder Shahbaz Ahmad tried to do the same when he made 17 from 27 balls with one six and Rajat Patidar made a run-a-ball 16, but the likes of Suyash Prabhudessai (2), Dinesh Karthik (6) and Wanindu Hasaranga (18) could not trouble the scorers much on Tuesday night.
For Rajasthan, the uncapped India fast bowler Kuldeep Sen returned with impressive numbers of 3.3-0-20-4, accounting for the likes of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel. While the tournament's leading wicket-taker Yuzvendsra Chahal remained wicketless in his 4-over spell, Ravichandran Ashwin was impressive taking 3/17 from heroes and Prasith Krishna took 2/23.
Rajasthan, who moved to the top of the points table after this victory, will be confident going into the clash against a struggling Mumbai on Saturday night, April 30, whereas earlier in the day, Bangalore will take on Gujarat in the Match No 43.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
