Karthik-Shahbaz partnership wins it for RCB

Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed during a partnership against Rajasthan Royals.

Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed put together 67 in just 32 balls to win the game for their team by 4 wickets. Karthik made 44* off 23 balls Shahbaz made 45 off 26

RR vs RCB Highlights: Rajasthan Royals lost their first game of the IPL as they were outfoxed by Dinesh Kartik and Shabaz Ahmed, who with their 67 runs stand in just 32 balls turned the game on its head and won their team, its second match of the season by 4 wickets.  The match was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai

RR vs RCB Player of the Match: Dinesh Karthik

There was no doubt when Dinesh Karthik was chosen as the Player of the Match as it was his knock that shifted the balance in favour of RCB as he hit Ashwin for 20 runs against the run of play. At one point in time, he was 30 off just 12 balls before he slowed down to make 44* off 23 balls. 

RR vs RCB Match Summary

The chase of 170 got off to a good start for the Challengers as the opening pair of captain Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat added 55 for the first wicket before Yuzebdra Chahal's magic removed four wickets inside seven runs one of which was the run out of Kohli by Chahal and Samson combined and another taken by Navdeep Saini. 
 
Soon Sherfane Rutherford was removed by Trent Boult as well and RCB needed 83 off 45 balls with two new men in Dinesh Karthik and Shabaz Ahmed at the crease. 
 
The pair attacked from the word go and some poor bowling from Navdeep Saini and Praidh Krishna meant that they turned the game in only three overs and brought the equation down to 32 needed off just 24 balls. From there onward only formalities remained which were completed by 19.1 overs by Karthik and Harshal as Shahbaz fell for 45 off 26 to Boult in the 18th over. 

Earlier in the evening, thanks to a brilliant 70 of just 47 balls by Jos Buttler, the Royals scored 169 of three in their 20 overs. Hetmyer made 42* off 31 

RR Playing 11

Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Navdeep Saini, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Prasidh Krishna

RCB Playing 11

Faf du Plessis (c), Anuj Rawat, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sherfane Rutherford, Shahbaz Ahmed, Wanindu Hasaranga, David Willey, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj

 

Source: Business Standard