Pune: Royal Challengers Bangalore dished out an incisive bowling show to restrict in-form Rajasthan Royals to a modest 144 for 8 in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday. Josh Hazlewood (2/19), Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (2/23) and Mohammed Siraj (2/30) picked up two wickets each to stifle the Royals' batting line-up.
Riyan Parag was the lone bright spot for RR with an unbeaten 56 off 31 balls. RCB's decision to bowl first yielded great results as they picked up wickets at regular intervals, not allowing RR any scope of building a big partnership. Devdutt Padikkal (7) and Jos Buttler (8) failed to give RR a good start and the decision to promote Ravichandran Ashwin (17) also backfired.
Siraj accounted for both Padikkal and Ashwin in his successive overs, while Hazlewood picked up the all-important wicket of Buttler, caught by Siraj inches above the ground as the batter failed to get over a short delivery, looping his pull to mid-on. Sanju Samson (27 off 21 balls) and Daryl Mitchell (16) tried to forge a partnership, sharing 35 runs for the fourth wicket before de Silva went through the gates of RR skipper as the batter went for an extravagant reverse sweep.
Mitchell failed to get going and tried to play the role of an anchor, holding one end up and together with Riyan Parag added 31 runs. But the New Zealander's struggle was cut short by Hazlewood as in a desperate effort to break the shackles, he gave a simple catch to Glenn Maxwell at long-on.
At 100 for 5 after 15 overs, RR's effort to post a decent target received yet another jolt in the form of Shimron Hetmyer (3), who fell to de Silva caught in the deep while going for a slog sweep. Trent Boult (5) was the next to depart, courtesy a stunning catch from Virat Kohli at midwicket off Harshal Patel.
RR's struggle can be gauged from the fact that they failed to find the fence for seven consecutive overs from 12 to 18th. Parag finally broke it in the 19th over by lifting Hazzlewood over the extra cover fence. Parag hit Patel for a four and two sixes in the final over to not only bring up his fifty but also give RR bowlers something to defend.
