Match Review-Rajasthan Royals VS Royal Challengers Bangalore-Match No.33-Dream 11 IPL 2020

 Welcome to another match review and I am here for my 50th post and it is another match review and today it is the first one of the double header that was held between RR and RCB.  So without any delay, let us get to the toss.

1.  The Toss:

            The toss was won by RR and steve smith decided to bat first and came without any changes in his squad.

  RCB skipper Virat made two changes as he brought in debutant Shabhaz Ahmed and replaced Shivam Dube with Gurkeerat Mann.  So now let us get to the first innings.

2.  First Innings:

             RR came in to bat with Stokes and Robin Uthappa. Uthappa came in and rolled back the years.  He hit seven fours in his 22-ball 41.  Stokes got out to Morris and then, Uthappa got out to Chahal and Samson was once again disappointing and inconsistent, Chahal picked two in two. 

As Smith came in he was joined by Buttler and two were new at the crease.  They then, built a 58 run partnership, but more was needed for RR to stand a chance, then, Smith changed gears and the was well supported by Rahul Tewatia.  Even thought Morris picked up Buttler, Smith and Archer in the last 5 overs of the innings, RR fought their way to a decent total of 177 for the loss of 6 wickets.  Their innings was filled with inconsistency as no one gave the proper support to Smith, who anchored the innings with his 57.  RCB needed 178 to go for a clean sweep at RR this season.  Will they do it?  Let us find out in the second innings.

2.  Second Innings:

             In the second innings RCB were off to a blazing start courtesy Aaron finch.  But Smith made a great change by bringing in Shreyas Gopal.  He took the wicket of Finch.  Archer was not getting the flow.  Padikkal was finding it difficult to get the boundaries.  He was just giving and gettimg the strike back.  Kohli was once again scoring run at a slow rate, but he had set up his innings nicely to support De Villiers who once again impressed everyone with his heroics. 

But Kohli couldn't support him because he got out the next ball after Padikkal got out.  Then Gurkeerat came and had only one job to do, rotate the strike and give it back to De Villiers whenever the strike is lost.  And he did it perfectly and De Villiers got set and started to demolish everyone who bowled to him. Especially Archer.  Archer was hit for 38 with two balls left in his spell.  De Villiers hit 55 off just 22 balls with 6 sixes included in it.  He crossed 4000 IPL runs as a RCB batsman.  Another Milestone.  Because, earlier in the day, Robbie crossed 4500 career runs in the IPL.  RCB proved once again that they are strong contenders for the title as they pulled off another miracle.  Tough luck for RR whose season looks pretty much over as they have lost 5 out of their last 6.  So that is it, I will be back with the match review of DC VS CSK tomorrow, for now, I give you the final summary.

Final Summary:

        RR: 177/6  20 Overs

        S.Smith: 57(36); R.Uthappa: 41(22)

        C.Morris: 4/26 (4)

        RCB: 179/3  19.4 Overs

        De Villiers: 55*(22); V.Kohli: 43(32)

        R.Tewatia: 1/30 (4)

Man Of The Match: Ab De Villiers