Devdutt Padikkal Scored 63 off 45 balls From RCB:
Devdutt Padikkal (63 off 45 balls) and Virat Kohli scored fifties as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Chasing 155 to win, Padikkal lost his opening partner Aaron Finch early but that didn’t keep him from playing attacking shots.
For the second wicket, he combined with skipper Virat Kohli and stitched together a 99-run stand. In the process, Padikkal also brought up the third fifty in his IPL career. Initially, Kohli played the second violin, but opened up after gaining some confidence and notched up his first major IPL 2020 performance, smashing 72 not out of 53 balls. On the first ball of the final over, AB de Villiers scored a boundary to secure the game in favour of RCB, with five balls to spare.
Previously, Rahul Tewatia ‘s late fireworks (24 not out of 12 balls) and Mahipal Lomror ‘s fine knock (47 runs) helped Rajasthan recover from early blows and set a 155-run target. Batting first, with Jos Buttler taking the offensive approach, they began positively. In fast succession, RCB bowlers came back strongly to dismiss and forced their three top-order players 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 encouragement he needed, and finally he fell three short of his fifty, attempting to lift the ante.
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