Pacer Avesh Khan (3-44) and Ravichandran Ashwin (2-19) starred in a disciplined bowling effort as Rajasthan Royals restricted Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 172/8 in the Eliminator clash of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Wednesday.
On a red soil pitch, Trent Boult (1/16) built pressure with a tidy opening spell, before Ashwin bowled a delightful spell to ensure RCB weren’t let off the hook. Avesh then bounced back from giving 30 runs in his first two overs by conceding only 14 runs in his last two overs and taking three wickets as RR gave away just 47 runs in the last five overs.
Electing to bowl first, Boult kept things tight when he found early swing and denied Virat Kohli as well as Faf du Plessis room to hit boundaries. Kohli began the early fightback by picking a four off Sandeep Sharma before du Plessis closed the second over by thumping a six down the ground.
Kohli then hooked Avesh for six, before du Plessis scooped and smashed Avesh for two fours. Boult was finally rewarded for his perseverance when du Plessis to deep mid-wicket, where Rovman Powell dived forward to complete a superb low catch.
Kohli slapped and whipped Sandeep for two boundaries in the last over of power-play, as RCB ended the phase at 50/1. But his attempt to slog-sweep Yuzvendra Chahal through the short square boundary resulted in him picking out deep mid-wicket to perfection.
Cameron Green muscled Chahal for six and four respectively, before Rajat Patidar was dropped on five by Dhruv Jurel at long-on off Ashwin. The duo would take a four each off Avesh before Ashwin bounced back by removing the duo in the 13th over.
While Green miscued off a carrom ball to a backtracking cover, Glenn Maxwell holed out to long-on to fall for a golden duck. Patidar came out of the shell by striking three quick boundaries, before miscuing one to mid-off against Avesh.
Dinesh Karthik survived an lbw call on review off Avesh but didn’t produce any heroics as he miscued a good short ball from the pacer to cover. Mahipal Lomror hit four boundaries in his 17-ball 32 before slicing to deep point to become Avesh’s third scalp of the match, followed by Karn slicing to sweeper cover on the last ball off Sandeep.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 172/8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 34, Virat Kohli 33; Avesh Khan 3-44, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-19) against Rajasthan Royals