IPL 2024 | RCB vs RR: Buttler's century, Samson's Fifty Helps Rajasthan Orchestrate Six-wicket Win

Rajasthan Royals have climbed to the top of the points table after beating Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets securing four wins from four matches in the IPL 2024. Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson were the main architects behind the win as they scored 100 Not Out and 69 respectively.

Jaipur: Rajasthan Royals' sublime form in the IPL 2024 continued as they defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru with six wickets in a contest dominated by the batters. Jos Buttler scored unbeaten 100 runs to guide the team to a win with five balls to spare while Samson scored 69 runs during his stay at the crease. RR hunted down the target of 184 as a result with six wickets in hand.

Earlier in the day, RCB batted first and the opening pair provided a solid start. Virat Kohli (113 Not Out) and Faf du Plessis (44) stitched a 125-run stand for the opening wicket before the latter was dismissed by Yuzvendra Chahal. Kohli kept anchoring the innings but a couple of more wickets fell from the other end in the form of Glenn Maxwell and Saurav Chauhan. The team posted a 183/3 in the first innings thanks to Kohli's sublime knock.

• Over 16-19.1 (RR 189/4)
  RCB have pulled some things back as RR lost three quick wickets in three back-to-back overs. However, Hetmyer struck a couple of boundaries during his stay at the crease and ensured a victory for RR. The game was very much in control of the chasing side and so the main interest was Buttler's 100 in last moments. The Englishman pulled a maximum over deep mid-wicket to finish the game and also complete his century.
• Over 11-15 (RR 152/2)
  Both the batters are going neck to neck as they have kept the scoring rate up and didn't let the bowler settle down. They kept finding boundaries and smashing sixes every now and then. Samson also reached his fifty and became the player with the most fifties (24) for Rajasthan Royals, surpassing former skipper Ajinkya Rahane's tally of 23 half-centuries. Buttler took on both the spinners and smashed them out of the park as both batters accumulated 29 runs off the 11th and 12th over bowled by spinners. However, Siraj picked a wicket of RR skipper Sanju Samson, who played one straight into the hands of Yash Dayal on the deep square-leg boundary. RR need 32 runs off the last five overs to secure a win. Will RCB be able to pull things back with this wicket of RR skipper Sanju Samson or will RR easily cross the finishing line?
• Over 7-10 (RR 95/1)
  Samson and Buttler continued to attack RCB bowlers and kept them under pressure. RCB have also introduced their impact player as Leg-spinner Himanshu Sharma came out to bowl his first over for the franchise in the IPL. Himanshu leaked some runs in his first over but almost picked a wicket of Sanju Samson, but Virat Kohli misjudged the catch and dropped it. Apart from him, no bowler looked threatening and never seemed like they were going to pick a wicket. Buttler, who was going through a lean patch, scored a fifty. RR have accumulated 41 runs off the last four overs. They need 89 runs off the last 60 balls.
• Over 1-6 (RR 54/1)
  It was going to be a decent power play for RCB as they had picked a wicket of Jaiswal on duck and then managed to restrict RR for 34/1 after five overs, but a gamble of bowling a spinner the last over of powerplay resulted against them. Buttler smashed three boundaries and a six and accumulated 20 runs off the over which helped the hosts to go past the 50-run mark. Buttler has scored more runs today than he did across his last six innings in the IPL (35 off 50, including three ducks). Overall, despite losing a wicket of Jaiswal when no runs were added on the scoreboard, Samson and Buttler forged a fifty partnership which helped to win the first phase of the second innings.

END OF RCB INNINGS

• Over 16-20 (RCB 183/3)
  RCB must be disappointed after not achieving the 200-run mark despite crossing the 100-run mark in the 11th over. Kohli smashed in the final over, but that was not enough to help his side attain that mark. After losing the wicket captain Faf du Plessis, batters who came out to join Virat Kohli in the middle couldn't get going as Maxwell scored a run off three balls, Sourav Chauhan scored nine off six balls and Cameron Green amassed only five runs off six balls and the credit goes to RR bowlers, who stick to their plans and kept bowling as per the field setting. Apart from Yuzi Chahal, Nandre Burger was the bowler who picked the wicket of Glenn Maxwell. A total of the 180-mark is enough? Totals similar to this have been defended a couple of times this season but it was from Rajasthan Royals. Do RCB have the attack to do it? That only time will tell.
  Most balls faced in an IPL innings
  73 - Brendon McCullum (KKR) vs RCB, Kolkata, 2008
  73 - Manish Pandey (RCB) vs Deccan Chargers, Centurion, 2009
  72 - Virat Kohli (RCB) vs RR, Jaipur, 2024
  70 - KL Rahul (PBKS) vs RR, Jaipur, 2018
  70 - Quinton de Kock (LSG) vs KKR, Mumbai DYP, 2022
• Over 11-15 (RCB 129/2)
  Rajasthan Royals have made a slight comeback in the match with a couple of wickets in back-to-back overs. Just when RCB openers Kohli and Faf started to play their shots and find some huge over, they lost the wicket of their skipper, who got dropped a couple of times in the same over of Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked his wicket on the final ball of his third over. RCB management sent Maxwell at number three to smash every ball he faced and got bowled after finding himself in a very different stance to play the ball which angled into the right-hander. RCB will still aim to achieve the score of 200+ runs, but they will need some big shots from Virat Kohli and the debutant Sourav Chauhan. Kohli's first 50-plus score in nine IPL innings in Jaipur.
  100-plus opening stands in RR vs RCB IPL matches
  181* - Virat Kohli & Devdutt Padikkal (RCB), Mumbai WS, 2021
  125 - Virat Kohli & Faf du Plessis (RCB), Jaipur, 2024
  109 - Graeme Smith & Swapnil Asnodkar (RR), Jaipur, 2008
  Most 100-plus opening partnerships in the IPL
  6 - David Warner & Shikhar Dhawan
  5 - David Warner & Jonny Bairstow
  5 - Virat Kohli & Faf du Plessis
  4 - Mayank Agarwal & KL Rahul
  4 - Ruturaj Gaikwad & Devon Conway
  4 - Virat Kohli & Chris Gayle
  Most 100-plus partnerships in the IPL (any wicket)
  10 - Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers
  9 - Virat Kohli & Chris Gayle
  6 - David Warner & Shikhar Dhawan
  6 - Virat Kohli & Faf du Plessis
• Over 7-10 (RCB 88/0)
  Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis have started playing some shots as they understand that they have batters who can hit the ball from ball one and hence they have played aggressively and accumulated as many runs as possible. However, Kohli needs to cover up his score as no team can afford a batter to play 40 odd balls to complete his fifty runs. RR bowlers haven't really created any chances to pick a wicket and break a partnership. Sanju Samson will have to change his plan and come up with a different strategy to break the partnership.
  Virat Kohli became the first-ever batter in IPL history to reach the milestone of 7500 runs when he scored his 34th run of the innings. Meanwhile, Kohli also surpassed Dhoni to to attain the second position in the list of Indian players with most IPL sixes.
• Over 1-6 (RCB 53/0)
  Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis were looking a bit rusty at the start but Kohli started taking chances from his end at regular intervals. The duo is playing with a cautious approach and Kohli has mostly punished short deliveries and also the balls which have been straying down the leg. Kohli’s stay at the crease included some well-timed pulls to find the fence. Du Plessis also smacked a boundary straight down the ground but he is steadily building his knock as the South African batter has been out of form in recent times. However, Virat Kohli needs to increase the scoring rate as he has faced 25 balls and has scored only 32 runs. In the morden-day T20 cricket, you cannot play such kind of innings because it increases the pressure on the batters which will come next.
• Substitutes
  Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Suyash Prabhudessai, Mahipal Lomror, Himanshu Sharma, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Swapnil Singh
  Rajasthan Royals: Rovman Powell, Tanush Kotian, Kuldeep Sen, Shubham Dube, Abid Mushtaq
• Playing XI
  Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik(wk), Saurav Chauhan, Reece Topley, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal
  Rajasthan Royals: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(wk/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal
• Toss
  Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and opt to field against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.

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