Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) battled each other in the 32nd match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the afternoon fixture of the tournament.
Asked to bat first, RCB got off to a flying start. However, they failed to carry the momentum and were restricted to 189 for the loss of nine wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Despite Glenn Maxwell’s sensational 77 off 44 deliveries and Faf du Plessis’ quickfire 62 off 39 balls, the Bangalore-based side couldn’t reach the potential 200-run mark and eventually had to settle for a total less than what they expected. Meanwhile, Sandeep Sharma and Trent Boult were the picks of the bowlers for Rajasthan, taking two wickets each for their team.
Coming to defend the target, RCB didn’t have to wait too long for their first wicket as Mohammed Siraj cleaned up RR opener Jos Buttler for a duck off a beautiful delivery in the very first over of the innings itself.
The wicket for Siraj came on the fourth ball of his opening spell, where he produced a sensational inswinger to Buttler, which the latter failed to defend. The white leather eventually went on to hit the stumps from between the bat and pad gap. While Siraj was thrilled with the dismissal and celebrated the breakthrough in Cristiano Ronaldo style, Virat Kohli was also seen charged up.
Here’s the video:
𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 🔥🔥
An extraordinary delivery THAT 💪🏻@mdsirajofficial cleans up Jos Buttler and continues his habit of striking early for @RCBTweets!
#TATAIPL | #RCBvRR pic.twitter.com/YE4ge4tAU0
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 23, 2023
In the end, RCB emerged victorious by seven runs. Although Devdutt Padikkal played a brilliant 52-run knock for his team, Rajasthan failed to chase the set target and finished their innings on 182 for the loss of six wickets. On the other hand, Harshal Patel played a handy role in Bangalore’s win, picking up three scalps for 32 in his quota of four overs.