It's a very hot afternoon in Jaipur with a bit of breeze. One side is slightly shorter stretching 62 metres compared to 69 metres on the other. There are a few cracks, but there is enough grass to bind it. Varun Aaron thinks it is a good surface to bat on, but it might assist the spinners a bit as the game progresses. Teams batting first on this track have had a slight upper-hand in the past.
Experts are creating their teams, watch this space
Expert Team 1
V Kohli
Y Jaiswal
Expert Team 2
S Samson
P Salt
Venue Details
Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
It's a very hot afternoon in Jaipur with a bit of breeze. One side is slightly shorter stretching 62 metres compared to 69 metres on the other. There are a few cracks, but there is enough grass to bind it. Varun Aaron thinks it is a good surface to bat on, but it might assist the spinners a bit as the game progresses. Teams batting first on this track have had a slight upper-hand in the past.
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7:16 pm IST: The first match of the season in Jaipur goes the way of the super-travelers of the season - Royal Challengers Bengaluru! Rajasthan Royals need to come back really strong here because otherwise, the race to the playoffs can get way more tricky for them. Now, the attention shifts to Delhi as Delhi Capitals host Mumbai Indians a little later this evening. You can switch tabs or click here to get right into the thick of things for that game! For now, this is the pair of Bala and Bidipto taking your leave. Keep following Sportskeeda!
Philip Salt (Player of the Match, 65 runs off 33 balls): "It feels special! It was a different surface of course, we did talk about it and it worked in terms of execution. Jofra and I have had many a contest with each other, he has bowled at me many times. Sometimes he has had the wood over me, sometimes I have had the wood over him. Today was my day. To be honest, Rajasthan played really well, but our bowlers did also manage to contain them. The idea for me was to keep going for the runs and complement Virat at the other end."
Rajat Patidar (Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain): "The bowlers bowled really well right through! They made it easy for the batters. The bowling in the power play was excellent. We were expecting something from 150-170 and it was there and there about. Our bowlers are ready to bowl on any surface, at any stage. Philip Salt was brilliant, and the partnership he had with Virat Kohli was pretty special too! Made our work easier. But, we are not a team that looks at home or away records, we only look at how we can win every match!"
Jofra Archer's 11 dot balls wins him the Green Dot Balls of the Match award!
The On-the-go Fours award winner is Yashasvi Jaiswal! He has hit 10 fours.
The Super Sixes of the Match award winner is Philip Salt for hitting 6 sixes!
Yashasvi Jaiswal wins the Fantasy King of the Match award!
TheSuper Striker of the Match award goes to Philip Salt, batting at a strike rate of 197!
7:08 pm IST: It is time now for the post-match presentation!
Devdutt Padikkal (Royal Challengers Bengaluru): "I'm trying to bat a differently. It's a conscious effort, trying to change that part of my game. This year, it been more in the technical side of the things. I had to change a few things technically to try and make it work. DK and Andy (Flower) have been working with me relentlessly in the past few months. I enjoy playing for this franchise, hopefully I can continue to perform. (On RCB winning away games) Coincidence. One or two overs can change the games. We have been losing wickets in a cluster at times. I'm sure we'll translate this at home."
Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals captain): After losing the toss, slow wicket. First 10 overs were tough to bat on. We thought 170 runs was a good score. Knew Salt and Virat bhai would come hard at us in the powerplay. They won the game in the powerplay. They also dropped catches, we also dropped catches. It's OK, we have to give it to RCB, their intent was better. I'd want to say, the toss did it for them, the ball was coming on nicely in the second innings. I would have liked to take it to 19th or 20th over. We are having some really good chats. People have been open honest in saying they committed some mistakes. We are in a good mindset. We have to put this game behind us, come back fresh and be confident about the next game."
Philip Salt's cracking knock today had the fans go crazy! Here are some of the reactions for you!
6:46 pm IST: Royal Challengers Bengaluru win by 9 wickets with 15 balls to spare!
Philip Salt 65 (33) | Krunal Pandya - 1/29 (4) Yashasvi Jaiswal 75 (47) | Kumar Kartikeya - 1/25 (3)
What looked like a tricky chase ended up being a simple one for Royal Challengers Bengaluru! All it took was two fifty-run stands to get the job done!
Virat Kohli stayed not out to anchor this chase, Devdutt Padikkal scored an unbeaten 40 with a strike rate of over 142 and Philip Salt was at his best with a smashing 33-ball 65! And then, what also helped RCB was the poor fielding from Rajasthan Royals.
RR dropped four catches and missed a run out opportunity along the way. That, against a power-packed batting line-up, definitely doesn't help. The body language of the home team did not meet standards either. The fight till the end went missing.
Jofra Archer was seen hobbling a bit towards the end, so, RR will be hoping he doesn't get injured. But on the whole, it was disappointing performance in the second half. The pitch seemed to be on RCB's side as if, given how destructive the batting was up front, but RR failed to capitalize on the demons in the surface.
RCB move up to third in the points table with 8 points from all their 4 away games. RR stay seventh in the standings 4 points. Both have played 6 matches each.
17.3 Sandeep Sharma to Devdutt Padikkal, FOUR! Ends the game with a boundary! Slower ball on a length outside off. Padikkal plays it late, guiding it comfortably past backward point
17.2 Sandeep Sharma to Virat Kohli, short ball wide of the off-stump. Uppish cut, falls just short of the fielder in the deep
17.1 Sandeep Sharma to Virat Kohli, slower ball into the surface. Pulls it away to deep mid-wicket. Good hard running between the wickets
Sandeep Sharma [2.0-0-22-0] comes back into the attack.
Only one big hit away now are RCB. Will be quite befitting for the fans if Kohli finishes if off with a maximum!
17
overs
168/1score
2
1nb
0
4
0
1
1
runs
Virat Kohli*
59(43)
Devdutt Padikkal
36(27)
Jofra Archer
0/36
16.6 Jofra Archer to Virat Kohli, slower ball into the deck. Pulls it along the carpet for one