Rajasthan Royals Had Won The Toss And Elected To Bat:
Rajasthan Royal recovered from early blows with late fireworks from Rahul Tewatia (24 not out of 12 balls) and a fine knock from Mahipal Lomroro (47 runs) and set a 155-run target for Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi. With Jos Buttler hitting the ball well, the Rajasthan Royals began positively.
However, in fast succession, RCB bowlers came back strongly to dismiss three top-order players, forcing them on the backfoot. Steve Smith was dismissed by Isuru Udana to hand RCB the first breakthrough. Navdeep Saini struck off his very first delivery to end the mini-onslaughter of Jos Buttler, who left after scoring 22 out of 12 balls. In the next over, Kohli introduced Yuzvendra Chahal and he immediately delivered, eliminating the dangerous Sanju Samson to further derail the Rajasthan innings.
Mahipal Lomror made an immediate impact, playing his first game of the season, scoring 47 runs. None of the batsman, however, could give him the help he needed, and ultimately he fell three short of his fifty trying to up the ante. Steve Smith won the toss earlier and decided to bat in Abu Dhabi against RCB. With Ankit Rajpoot making way for Mahipal Lomror, RR made one shift to their playing XI, while RCB chose to keep the same playing XI for the season’s first afternoon match.
