3 RCB players who flopped against RR
Rajasthan Royals clashed against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur today. Electing to bat first, Rajasthan Royals put up a solid total of 164/5 in 20 overs thanks to Rahul Tripathy who carried his bat throughout the innings and stayed not out for a well made 80 of 58 deliveries. Heinrich Klassen (32 of 21) and Krishnappa Gowtham (14 of 5) struck few lusty blows in the end to propel Rajasthan’s score to 164/5.
Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for RCB with 3-25 in his 4 overs.
In reply, RCB got off to a disastrous start, losing Virat Kohli in the 3rd over. Parthiv Patel and AB de Villiers strung together a partnership of 55 runs for the 2nd wicket. But the introduction of leg spinners post the power play was the turning point of the game.
Shreyas Gopal and Ish Sodhi triggered the collapse of RCB as both the bowlers ripped apart the middle order picking up 5 wickets among each other to help Rajasthan Royals register a famous win in an important encounter. In the end, RCB folded for 134 in 19.2 overs and this loss meant they are the 2nd team to be knocked out of the tournament.
In a game that had some memorable performances to some poor ones. Let us look at 3 players from RCB who failed to step up to the occasion.
#3 Virat Kohli
The skipper of RCB, Virat Kohli had an off day at the office and this cost his side a spot in the playoffs. Chasing a target of 165, Virat Kohli opened the innings along with Parthiv Patel. The opposition skipper Ajinkya Rahane took a gamble by introducing the offie Krishnappa Gowtham to bowl the first over.
Surprisingly, Kohli struggled to play the off-spinner and couldn’t rotate the strike on a slow pitch that was offering a little turn at the start. In the 5 balls he faced off the first over, Kohli managed to score only 1 run.
Gowtham continued his second over and on the 5th ball of the over he dismissed the RCB skipper. Virat Kohli danced down the track and missed one that crashed into the stumps. On a slow pitch, where horizontal bat shots are difficult to execute, Kohli played one that lead to his dismissal.
Clearly, Virat Kohli was out of sorts and this was his 8th dismissal against spin this season, which is the most.