IPL 2022: Bangalore win battle Royal

Dinesh Karthik closed out successive tight chases for Royal Challengers Bangalore, with an unbeaten 44 off 22 bringing up a four-wicket win after Jos Buttler had fought through on a slow, seaming pitch to take Rajasthan Royals to 169.
RCB exploit sticky pitch
After 16 overs, RR had managed 107 for 3. A fresh Wankhede pitch expected to be hard and plentiful for batsmen had turned out to be slow and tacky. The ball had stuck into the surface when pounded in on the ‘hard’ pulled-back lengths. There had been swing and seam for a considerable period with the new ball.Like Umesh Yadav at the same ground earlier, but on a different track, English left-armer David Willey exploited the conditions well. He kept the left-handers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Devdutt Padikkal – guessing with movement both ways outside off, and hardly gave anything driveable. He set Jaiswal up superbly, bending some away before getting one to come back in and zip through the gate. Willey bowled four overs on the trot for 1 for 29.

What a sensational win! 👌 👌
Second victory on the bounce & 2⃣ more points in the bag for @RCBTweets as they beat #RR 4⃣ wickets. 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/mANeRaZc3i #TATAIPL | #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/VJMRJ1fhtP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2022
Immediately after a powerplay that brought only 35, RCB put down Jos Buttler twice and Padikkal once in the space of nine deliveries. It made little difference to the tempo of the innings. Bats continued to be swished without timing. Even when the ball was pitched up, Harshal Patel provided absolutely no pace to work with. And Wanindu Hasaranga needed four balls to dismiss Sanju Samson for the fourth time in five T20 innings at a cumulative cost of eight runs, as the ball never seemed to arrive off the pitch.
Buttler breaks free finally
Heading into the last two overs, Buttler was on 43 off 40. As he’d say later during the innings break, “It was frustrating, but sometimes you have to suck it up and keep going.” It was high time to go now, and Buttler did, sending the next four legal deliveries he faced over the boundary. In an indication that conditions were changing, the odd high full toss had started to appear. But Buttler had finally seen enough to send even the banged-in ones into the stands.

FIFTY for @josbuttler. Brings it up with a maximum.
Live – https://t.co/HLoQF5FrcT #RRvRCB #TATAIPL pic.twitter.com/EEyF5j10v6
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2022
At the other end, Shimron Hetmyer had been going so hard after the ball he had ended up five pitches away on the farthest track on the square after muscling Hasaranga over extra cover. He joined in the late party too as Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep conceded a combined 42 in overs 19 and 20. Buttler took 27 off his last seven balls. During his century against Mumbai Indians three days ago, he’d scraped five off his last ten.
DK shifts momentum
RCB had lost their way after a powerplay of 48 for 0, courtesy the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal. With the fielders starting to wipe the ball now, Chahal delivered a spell of 3-0-11-2. He looped it into Faf du Plessis, getting him to hit to long-on instead of straighter, and ripped it in through Willey’s gate.

.@DineshKarthik is adjudged Player of the Match for his match winning knock of 44* off 23 deliveries.
This is also @RCBTweets‘s 100th win in #TATAIPL.
Scorecard – https://t.co/HLoQF5FrcT #RRvRCB pic.twitter.com/iKVIi548BP
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2022
When R Ashwin came on for his last over, RCB needed 82 in seven with half the side gone; Dinesh Karthik had just come in. Two straight sixes and a couple of swept and reverse-swept fours followed from Karthik, as 21 came off the over. Samson brought back Chahal for the 17th, but then, Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed had taken the seamers for runs too and could afford to play the leg-spinner out.The RR pacers didn’t help their captain not bowling to the field at times. When they did, Karthik still took a toll, sweeping them for twos and fours and keeping the square fielders busy.
Brief scores: RR 169/3 in 20 overs (Buttler 70 not out, Hetmyer 42 not out; Patel 1/18) lost to RCB 173/6 in 19.1 overs (Karthik 44 not out, Ahmed 45; Chahal 2/15) 4 wickets