IPL 2019: Match 49, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rajasthan Royals – Lesser Known Stats

All the calculations to keep the Royal Challengers Bangalore alive for playoffs contentions have finally ended thanks to their rain-affected game against the Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. Heavy rain that began just before the scheduled start of the play reduced the game into 5 overs-a-side. RCB were looking set for a big total as they were 35/0 in 1.3 overs before Shreyas Gopal claimed a hat-trick and RR limited them to only 62/7. The visitors were placed at 41/1 after 3.2 overs before rain return to spoil the game.

Here are the lesser known stats recorded during the 5-overs affair at the Chinnaswamy Stadium:

A hat-trick in rain game:

Shreyas Gopal’s hat-trick against RCB is now the first recorded hat-trick in the Twenty20 format that resulted in a washout. His hat-trick is also the first in a completed Twenty20 innings that was restricted to six or fewer overs. Dominic Cork claimed a hat-trick during the 2004 T20 Cup game for Lancashire against Nottinghamshire which was reduced to 8 overs-a-side. [Nayan Doshi got a hat-trick for Derbyshire against Durham in 2008 during the 6th over before the innings was terminated at 6.5 overs]

2nd hat-trick in this year for Gopal:

Shreyas Gopal’s hat-trick in this game is his 2nd in the Twenty20 format. He picked the first in March this year while representing Karnataka against Haryana in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament. He thus became only the 3rd player for India to registered two or more hat-tricks in the Twenty20 format. Another leg-spinner Amit Mishra has as many as three hat-tricks which he took in the IPL.

Yuvraj Singh also has two hat-tricks which he claimed during the 2009 edition of the IPL. Gopal also became only the 3rd uncapped player to register an IPL hat-trick. The first two were also recorded by Rajasthan Royals’ players as Ajit Chandila in 2012 against PWI and Pravin Tambe in 2014 against KKR.

Running through RCB:

Shreyas Gopal now has the best bowling average in the IPL against an opponent as he averages 5.16 across the four matches he played against RCB. (Min: 10 wickets) The leg-spinner Gopal claimed 12 wickets against RCB including a 4-wicket haul. He bettered Lasith Malinga’s average of 7.58 against Deccan Chargers as the Sri Lankan picked up 19 wickets against them in only eight matches with help of five hauls of three or more wickets.

A 23-run over to start:

The 23 runs conceded by Varun Aaron in the first over of the game makes it the 3rd most expensive first over of an IPL match. The top two instances are recorded by the Mumbai Indians as they conceded 27 runs in the opening over against RCB in the Qualifier game during the 2011 season and 26 runs in Rohit Sharma’s captaincy debut game against KKR in Kolkata during the 2013 edition.

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