IPL 2018, RCB vs RR: D'Arcy Short's catch to dismiss Virat Kohli is the SK Turning Point of the match

Rajasthan Royals registered their second successive win of the tournament by defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 19 runs. Rajasthan Royals were put into bat by RCB skipper Virat Kohli. Rahane was batting aggressively before being dismissed for 36.

A blistering 92 from just 45 deliveries by Sanju Samson powered Rajasthan Royals to 217/4, their joint second-highest total in the IPL. Excepting Yuzvendra Chahal, none of the RCB bowlers fared well.

In reply, RCB lost Brendon McCullum early once again but skipper Virat Kohli and Quinton de Kock added 77 runs for the second wicket to put them in a commanding position. Kohli, in particular, was playing brilliantly and was looking dangerous with the bat.

Following De Kock’s dismissal, AB de Villiers joined Kohli on the crease. Kohli reached his 50 and RCB’s run rate was above 10. At this point, it seemed that RCB had a very fair chance of winning the game. Kohli’s timing was brilliant throughout his innings and his confidence was booming.

In the 10th over, Shreyas Gopal came in to bowl. The first ball was drilled by De Villiers towards long-off for a single and this brought Virat Kohli on strike. In the second delivery, Gopal bowled a short delivery which was pulled by Kohli towards deep midwicket. However, D’Arcy Short took a fine leaping catch to get the big fish.

The crowd was shell-shocked. All the roars from the RCB fans turned into pin-drop silence. Ajinkya Rahane and his teammates knew that they got the wicket that would put them in the driver’s seat.

Following Kohli’s dismissal, AB de Villiers followed suit after scoring 20 and RCB were all but assured of a defeat. However, Mandeep Singh and Washington Sundar gave them a flicker of hope by smashing a couple of fours and sixes during the final few overs. Alas, by this time it was too little too late for RCB and they eventually fell short by 19 runs.

Shreyas Gopal emulated Chahal’s spell by taking two wickets from his four overs and giving away only 22 runs. Sanju Samson was unsurprisingly declared the Man of the Match for his sensational knock of 92. Ben Stokes may have received the Perfect Catch award but the match would have been different had it not been for Short’s catch to dismiss Kohli.

The Royals moved to third in the table with this win and Royal Challengers slipped to 6th position. Royal Challengers will now travel to Mumbai to take on the struggling Mumbai Indians on Tuesdayday while Rajasthan Royals will host Kolkata Knight Riders at Jaipur on Wednesday.