Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 runs in another thrilling encounter of the 2023 Indian Premier League on Sunday, April 23. Defending a competitive total of 190 at the Chinnaswamy stadium, the RCB bowlers once again stepped up and pulled things back in the second half of RR's innings to register their fourth win of the tournament.
Their chase started with a huge blow as Mohammed Siraj continued to provide breakthrough for RCB in the powerplay, dismissing dangerous Jos Butler in the first over for a 2-ball duck. It looked like Siraj took a revenge towards Trent Boult for dismissing Virat Kohli for a golden duck in the first innings. However, it did not affect the Royals as Devdutt Padikkal and Yeshwasi Jaiswal took charge against the RCB bowlers and added a 100-run stand for the second wicket.
Padikkal got out out in the 12th over after a brilliant half-century, and their momentum has since slowed. Harshal Patel dismissed Jaiswal when he was nearing to fifty. He gave another breakthrough by sending back RR skipper Sanju Samson. Shimron Hetmyer had an off day, but Dhruv Jurel and R Ashwin kept the visitors in the hunt with scoring some quick runs in the death. However, their efforts were not enough to cross the finish line as many dot balls in the middle overs cost them the match.
Earlier, Trent Boult gave RR a good start by sending back Kohli and Shahbaz Ahmed inside the powerplay. However, after that Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell steadied the ship for the hosts and put on a 120+ partnership to bring them back into the game. Two RCB overseas batters brought RCB back into the game but RR got the upper hand as their partnership broke in the 14th over. It was a brilliant comeback by the RR bowlers to restrict their opponents to 189 when RCB looked set to score over 200 at one stage.
Here's how fans reacted to RCB's thrilling win:Β
2nd win on the trot for RCB under the captaincy of Kohli. π₯
β Mrinango C.Borty (VK fan) (@ViratKo66279185) April 23, 2023
2016 vibes? Please make virat permanent captain
β chanchu pandey (@ChanchuPandey) April 23, 2023
RR lost the game between 10 to 15 overs with their slow batting approach π’π
β Ayush Anand (@crictopher014) April 23, 2023
2016 vibes? Please make virat permanent captain
β chanchu pandey (@ChanchuPandey) April 23, 2023
Good thrilling win for RCB #RCBvRR
β Jaikumar S (@Jaiharshan) April 23, 2023
Only GOD kohli could have defended this under par score on chinnawamyππ
β Based ποΈπ© (@ImRo69) April 23, 2023
Terrific comeback RCB ππ
β Virat Abde πππ(β Β β ββ βΏβ ββ Β β )β β‘ (@Ganapat51013941) April 23, 2023
Harshal Patel back to form that's great news for the RCB πππ
Dhruv Jurel should be blamed, why did he take 2 runs when ashwin was at strike , he was supposed to be the finisher ffs
β Adi β¨ (@Adi_Tells) April 23, 2023
Captain kohli is back π₯π₯
β Anjali Sharma (@Anjali_vk_18) April 23, 2023
E Sala cup naam de
β Abhishek Singh (@Abhishe58947518) April 23, 2023