Mumbai: Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed together played the anchor role down the batting order to power Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 match on Tuesday.
After the dismissal of key players Virat Kohli, David Willey, and Sherfane Rutherford in short intervals, Bangalore were looking desperately for a miracle to win the match, where Rajasthan had set a target of 170.
Karthik, known to be one of the best finishers in the game, hit the bowlers all over the park and remained unbeaten on 44 off just 23 balls to take RCB safely home.
Ahmed later joined Karthik’s party, scoring 45 off just 26 balls before he was bowled by Trent Boult. His dismissal, however, didn’t hurt Bangalore as Karthik used his experience, maintained his calm and took the team to a four-wicket win with five balls to spare.
Earlier, Rajasthan scored 169/3 in 20 overs, thanks to Jos Buttler’s unbeaten 70 off 40 balls. Other crucials roles in Rajasthan innings were played by West Indies’ Shimron Hetmyer (42 not out off 31 balls) and young Devdutt Padikkal (37 off 29 balls).
RR Playing XI: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna.
RCB Playing XI: Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 173-6 (Shahbaz Ahmed 45, Dinesh Karthik 44; Yuzvendra Chahal 2-15) beat Rajasthan Royals 169-3 (Jos Buttler 70, Shimron Hetmyer 42; Harshal Patel 1-18) by 4 wickets.
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India Blooms News Service
