Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
Rajasthan Royals suffered a maiden defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Tuesday at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams entered the contest after winning their previous matches, but RCB wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik's daring batting towards the end of the second innings helped his side win the game. While batting first, Jos Buttler's unbeaten 70 and Hetmyer's 42-run knock helped the side post 169 on board.
While chasing, RCB had a fairly decent start as their openers added 55-runs for the first wicket, but later collapse in the batting saw RCB struggling at 87-5 in 13 overs. However, Shahbaz Ahmed and Dinesh Karthik guided their side to win the game in just 19.1 overs with their hard-hitting knock. Dinesh Karthik was rewarded Player of the Match for his unbeaten 44. The Royals now have their maiden loss in the tournament, while RCB won their second game out of three games.
Changes in the points table
After the 13th match of the Indian Premier League, Rajasthan Royals are still at the top spot in the points table due to the impressive net-run rate. They have +1.218 NRR at the moment, while Royal Challengers Bangalore are placed sixth in the points table with a net run rate of +0.159. RCB will now face Mumbai Indians on April 9 at MCA in Pune, whereas Rajasthan Royals will lock horns with Lucknow Super Giants.
Today's match:
After the Royals' derby at Wankhede, the action will move to Pune, where five-time champion Mumbai Indians will lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders. Both the teams had contrasting results in their previous matches. KKR defeated Punjab Kings by 6 wickets on April 1, while Mumbai Indians still crave for their maiden win in the tournament.
What did the captains say?
Royals skipper was quite optimistic about their team's performance as he said, "it was a great effort to put up that total on such a slow wicket after losing the toss. Jos and Hetmyer batted brilliantly at the death. Taking the match to the last over with the dew coming in was also a great effort. "Although, he didn't shy away from praising the brave performance of Dinesh Karthik and applauded the veteran for bringing his rich experience to the league.
After the match, Faf du Plessis was a happy man as his team did what others could not—handing over a maiden defeat to Rajasthan Royals in the tournament. Like everyone else, he showered praise on Dinesh Karthik by saying that he has great character and his composure under pressure is impressive. "Yuzi is an asset for whatever team he plays. But the boys bounced back strongly and showed a lot of grit to win the game. Skipper also appreciated Shahbaz for showing much-needed potential in the match and showed a lot of confidence in the youngster. Du Plessis also commented on Virat Kohli and assured fans that he is at his best in terms of fitness and will play a crucial part in the team's performance in the league.