IPL 2023: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Match 60 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023 by 112 runs on Sunday, May 14 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur. After opting to bat first, RCB posted a good score of 171/5 courtesy of half-centuries from Faf du Plessis (55 off 44) and Glenn Maxwell (54 off 33). Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers for RR with figures of 2/25 in four overs.

In reply, Rajasthan were bundled out for just 59 as RCB’s bowlers namely Wayne Parnell (3/10, 3 overs), Michael Bracewell (2/16, 3 overs), and Karn Sharma (2/19, 1.3 overs) ripped apart their famed batting lineup. As RCB hammered RR in the latter’s home ground. Let’s take a look at the talking points of the match:

1. Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis continue their exceptional form

Both Maxwell and Du Plessis scored half-centuries and continued their marvelous form of the season. The duo was involved in a 69-run stand off 47 balls to help their side cross the 100-run mark.

2. Wayne Parnell’s sensational spell

The left-arm seamer finished his three-over spell with figures of 3/10. He first picked up the wicket of the dangerous Jos Buttler in the second over of the innings and further dismissed the RR captain Sanju Samson two balls later. The South African seamer returned in the sixth over to dismiss Joe Root as RR lost five wickets inside the powerplay.

3. Mohammed Siraj gets Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck

The right-arm seamer once again fired with the new ball as he dismissed the in-form batter Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck on just the second ball of the innings. In the previous RCB vs RR clash of the season, he dismissed Jos Buttler in the first over itself to get RCB off to a rollicking start. Siraj has been phenomenal with the new ball throughout the season having picked up 16 wickets from 12 matches.

Winning Skipper, Faf du Plessis said:

Really good for our NRR. Tough pitch. We batted first and assessed the conditions. We batted in the powerplay and thought 160 will be a good score. We have had a good set up till the 15th over. But we managed to capitalize on the momentum shift at the end. Great job. Bracewell would want to bowl on this every day of the week. We needed a left-arm spinner. May be Shahbaz could have been an option. Wrist spin could have been an attacking option. Hopefully, we can set it up for the last game at the Chinnaswamy. Today was a good one for the team. They needed this confidence to go into the last two games.

Losing Skipper, Sanju Samson said:

I think our top three were scoring a lot of runs, we go hard in the powerplay but it didn’t come out today. I think it's too soon to analyze or dissect the game. You need to go hard in the powerplay knowing the ball was getting slower and older, that’s the way me, Jaiswal and Jos have played throughout. Credit to the RCB bowlers for their energy and intensity. I think this was a target that could have gone to the wire, I expected a tight match if we had a decent powerplay. I was just thinking seeing the batting collapse where we went wrong? I don't think I have an answer to that yet. We all know the nature of the IPL, we’ve seen some funny things happen in the league stage. We have to keep strong, take a day off and think about the game in Dharamshala. I think we need to end on a strong note. We have to take responsibility on the whole as a team for this performance.

Wayne Parnell (3/10), Player of the Match said:

Obviously, credit to our batters. The last over gave us momentum. We could execute well. The message was to take pace off the ball. Bowl it at the sticks. We were able to execute everything. The surface was low, slow and skiddy. Was trying to make them play across the line. When I wasn't playing, I was preparing. It is a long tournament and you need to be switched on every game.