IPL 2019: Match 14, RR vs RCB - Who Said What

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) succumbed to their fourth consecutive loss in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) as they went down fighting against the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur. But frankly, the visitors never looked like winning the game and it was a clinical effort from the home team on the day. Chasing a total of 159 runs, they were always at ease and even though the game went till the last over, the result was never in doubt.

Ajinkya Rahane was dropped by Virat Kohli on 1 and the Royals skipper made them pay by scoring 22 runs. Jos Buttler came back to form thanks to some poor bowling within powerplay overs. He raced to 59 runs off 43 runs and by the time, he got out, the result of the game was a foregone conclusion. The duo of Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi played sensibly then to take the team close to the victory.

Smith though was dismissed with only five runs needed but Tripathi didn’t take the pressure and finished the match to remain unbeaten on 34.

Parthiv’s half-century propels RCB

Earlier, RCB got off to a brilliant start thanks to Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel. They added 49 runs for the first wicket to set a perfect platform. But Shreyas Gopal picked three big wickets in his first couple of overs to peg them back and despite Parthiv Patel’s half-century, they were behind the eight ball. The run-rate never threatened the oppositions as their bowlers executed their plans well.

Parthiv was dismissed on 67 while Marcus Stoinis remained not-out on 31 on his RCB debut. Moeen Ali came out to bat and slashed at everything which helped the team get to 158 runs for the loss of four wickets after 20 overs. But the score was never going to be enough and the drop catches didn’t help the visitors as well and they went down eventually in the final over.

Man of the Match, Shreyas Gopal said:

I still say I’m fortunate and lucky to get such big wickets. As a youngster, it’s not going to come everyday and it’s one of my biggest moments. I was more fortunate and our plans worked today. We created a lot of pressure in the first 6 overs. They didn’t get 65-70.

They had to make runs off me, I had better chance of taking wickets. Just goes on gut feeling, nothing planned as such. It’s good to have few different balls up your sleeve and be able to execute. We (wrist spinners) get to spin the ball both sides and that’s probably an advantage. It’s about bowling better areas and sticking to areas.

Rajasthan Royals skipper, Ajinkya Rahane said:

Our thinking was, dew would come into effect. His (Shreyas Gopal) record against Virat and AB – we all know. Overall, it was a great team effort. After 3-4 overs, we came to know that the wicket was slow. All the bowlers chipped in really well. That’s what we wanted to do. We played good cricket in the last three matches. Today, it was about giving more than 100 percent. I think the way he (Tripathi) batted with Smith and Stokes, it was incredible.

Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper, Virat Kohli said:

We were 15-20 runs short. Marcus and Moeen got us to a competitive score. With the dew factor, 15 runs more would have been more challenging. It wasn’t easy to score in the end as the wicket became slower. We made a lot of mistakes in the match (dropped catches).

In a tournament like IPL when team hasn’t got off to a great start then bodies in the outfield can be a bit stiff. There can be a bit of nervousness. In four games, we would have wanted one or maybe two games to go our way.

We have 10 games to go, hopefully we can turn things around. We played well against Mumbai and in this game. This tournament is not that long, it is not going to go on for months and you have to think on your feet and have to think about the best combination going forward. Hopefully, we will get fresh guys in and they can give a match-winning performance.

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