Rajasthan Royals looked good for a big score with Evin Lewis going strong, but his wicket triggered a terminal collapse
Rajasthan Royals 153 for 3 (Maxwell 50*, Bharat 44, Mustafizur 2-20) beat Rajasthan Royals 149 for 9 (Lewis 58, Jaiswal 31, Harshal 3-34, Shahbaz 2-10, Chahal 2-18) by seven wickets
Rajasthan Royals were in sight of a tall total when they were 100 for 1 in 11 overs, on the back of Evin Lewis‘ breakneck half-century. However, his dismissal triggered a terminal collapse as Royals lost 8 for 49 – and their heads – to be restricted to under 150 on a fresh Dubai track. Royal Challengers Bangalore then hunted down the target with ease to consolidate their position in the top half of the points table, with seven wins in 11 matches.
Royals, on the other hand, subsided to their seventh defeat in 11 games. Despite the loss on Wednesday, Royals could still qualify for the playoffs if they win their remaining three games.
They might have still harboured hopes of a comeback when Mustafizur Rahman dismissed Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli either side of the powerplay, but KS Bharat and Glenn Maxwell forged a 69-run partnership to dash all of that. Royal Challengers ultimately sealed victory with seven wickets and 17 balls to spare, also giving their net run-rate a leg-up.
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Deivarayan Muthu is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo