PUNE: Rajasthan Royals players failed to capitalize on a decent start and allowed Royal Challenger Bangalore hammer 180 for four in his heat of IPL in the MCA Gahunje Stadium on Wednesday.
The total was too much for the batsmen collapsed RR 109 in 19 overs to lose by 71 runs. Bangalore Chennai Super Kings now take on qualifier-2 in Ranchi Friday.
The response of Rajasthan took off from the start when Shane Watson, Sanju Samson and Steve Smith were sent back cheaply. 42 Ajinkya Rahane barely made any impact as RCB bowlers came together to overturn the persecution.
Earlier, Rajasthan pushed the RCB batsmen on the back foot by sending destructive openers Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli back before they could cause major damage.
In the mark 10a-over, Rajasthan looked good in control of the game with fighting Bangalore 60 for two.
But let drift script and leaked 120 runs in the next 10 overs. They could not control AB de Villiers (66 vs 38 balls) and Mandeep Singh (unbeaten 54 off 34 balls) as the duo snatched the momentum away.
Earlier, after losing the toss, Rajasthan captain Steven Smith tried to unsettle Bangalore batsmen shuffling players around. No bowler Rajasthan except Dhawal Kulkarni has a spell of two extensions of a stretch to 14 the office of Smith looked to restrict Gayle, Kohli and de Villiers.
The plan initially worked as Kulkarni, who got the India call-up for Bangladesh ODIs, both Gayle and Kohli sent back before the eighth.
Kulkarni, who gave away 14 runs in his first from the north end, returned to bowl from the southern end and picked up the scalp of Gayle.
The Antillean walked the track only to lose a straight line from Kulkarni who was shot. In his third over, Kulkarni struck again. This time it was Kohli, who gave a gentle catch the pacemaker return.
But after the tenth, the ‘shuffle’ showed his other side as Rajasthan bowlers struggled for consistency. Left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma gave away 28 runs in the three scales he rolled.
Pacemakers left arm medium James Faulkner and Chris Morris pacemakers were beaten throughout the park, conceding 42 runs each.
The big bat booming Chris Gayle threatened to take the match away from RCB. Dhawal Kulkarni bowling the last game of power over, Gayle was fired down one of each. Gayle swinged and lose and lost the middle stump. In Kulkarni next over, captain Virat Kohli closes the clubface a little too early to attempt a film, but only managed to jump the ball to the bowler. Two large windows allow RR to get their foot in the door. But de Villiers and Mandeep fought hard to give a competitive look RCB innings.
