Rajasthan Royals were in for a shock when they lost four wickets to RCB in a space off 11 balls and when Dinesh Karthik (44 not out off 23 balls) and Shahbaz Ahmed (45 off 26) made a 67-run partnership off just 33 balls. In this manner, Royal Challengers Bangalore came from behind and defeated Rajasthan Royals by 4 wkts.
Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat got RCB off to a good start but that was undone by them losing four wickets in the space of two overs. Sent to bat, Jos Buttler scored an unbeaten 70 off 47 balls, while Shimron Hetmyer (42 not out) and Devdutt Padikkal (37) also made valuable contributions to power the Royals to 169 for 3.
Yuzvendra Chahal forced an error from Faf du Plessis (29), who mistimed a leg break to be caught at long-on, before cleaning up left-hander David Willey (0) with a classical leg-break. Chahal also effected the run out of Virat Kohli (5) after a brilliant take and throw from Royals skipper Sanju Samson. Trent Boult then getting rid of Sherfane Rutherford made it 87 for five, leaving RCB in a lot of trouble.
That was when Karthik, who has shown stellar form this season, came into the middle and brought back RCB into the contest with some sensational strokes including a reverse sweep off Ravichandran Ashwin whose fourth over went for 21 runs.
Royals did not have the best of times in Powerplay, reaching 35 with the loss of opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (4). RCB fielding also helped the Royals as they dropped Buttler twice in the same over bowled by Akash Deep. For RCB, Wanindu Hasaranga (1/32), Harshal Patel (1/18) and David Willey 1/29 took a wicket each.
Brief Score: Rajasthan Royals: 169 for 3 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 70 not out, Shimron Hetmyer 42 not out; Wanindu Hasaranga 1/32, Harshal Patel 1/18, David Willey 1/29) Royal Challengers Bangalore: 173 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Dinesh Karthik 44 not out, Shahbaz Ahmed 45; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15)
