Maxwell, bowlers guide Bangalore to victory over Rajasthan

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter
 
Glenn Maxwell scored a blitzkrieg fifty to steer Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a comprehensive seven-wicket victory after bowlers ran through the batting line-up of Rajasthan Royals in their IPL match in Dubai.

Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli added 48 runs for the first wicket to set the tone for a successful chase.

Both are in tremendous form and have been giving a good platform to the team consistently.

Mustafizur Rehman rattled the stumps of Padikkal to give Rajasthan first breakthrough.

Kohli was found short of ground as he fell victim to a direct throw by Riyan Parag after adding eight runs to the total after the departure of his opening partner.

Maxwell shared a 69-run stand with Srikar Bharat for the third wicket to put all the doubts to rest.

The pair plundered runs on their will and hit Rajasthan’s toothless attack all over the ground.

After the dismissal of Bharat, Maxwell and AB de Villiers completed the formalities as Bangalore reached the target in 16th over.

Maxwell remained unbeaten after scoring a 30-ball 50.

Earlier, Bangalore staged a brilliant comeback as Rajasthan could not capitalise on the fiery start they got and squandered a chance to post a huge total.

Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave a blistering start to Rajasthan with a blazing opening partnership. The duo added 77 runs for the first wicket in just 8 overs.

Australian pacer Dan Christian triggered the skid by getting Jaiswal caught by Siraj.

After his departure, captain Sanju Samson added 23 runs with Lewis to take the score to 100.

Garton, who was playing in place of Kylie Jamieson, got rid of dangerman Lewis to bring respite to the Bangalore camp.

His dismissal opened the flood gates for the Bangalore’s bowlers – Yuzvendra Chahal and Shahbaz Ahmed -- ripped through a spine-less middle-order of Rajasthan.

Rajasthan lost four wickets in the space of 14 runs. Chahal had Mahipal Lomror stumped by wicket-keeper Bharat before getting Liam Livingstone caught by AB de Villiers.

Rahul Tewatia, who rose to fame with a blistering innings against Mumbai Indians in the last edition of the IPL here in the UAE, again failed to click and was taken by Padikkal off Ahmed.

His last five scores -- in the matches where he batted -- has been 5, 2, 9, 0* and 2. But he remains a permanent feature of the team.

Ahmed also got the prize scalp of Samson, who had scored two consecutive fifties in the last two matches.

He smashed an unbeaten 70 against the ferocious pacers of Delhi Capitals and 80 against Hyderabad. However, they ended up losing both the matches as no other batsmen clicked in those two matches for Rajasthan.

In came the darling of the team Riyan Parag, who has not even gone past a score of 30 in the entire tournament despite having batted in almost every game.

He holed out to Kohli after scoring a painstakingly slow 9 off 16 balls. KL Rahul, Sunil Narine and Yusuf Pathan have scored a 50 each off 14, 14 and 15 deliveries respectively in the IPL.

Parag’s scores in the last four matches in the UAE are 4,2,0 and nine. He seems to be in the fold to bring a teenage swagger as he is known more for his stuff toys than batting skills. Yet he remains indispensable.

It will be difficult to decide for the team management they should consider Parag as a liability or a non-performing asset.

Chris Morris scored a valuable 14 runs as Rajasthan limped to 149/9. Batting has been their biggest problem throughout the tournament as they batsmen crumble under pressure.

Last seven batsmen added only 34, including 14 by Morris.

Harshal Patel bowled a superb spell as he accounted for the dismissal of Parag, Morris and Chetan Sakariya, conceding only 34 runs in his four overs.

All his dismissal came in the 20th over. He had also taken a hat-trick against Mumbai. He had come close to take another hat-trick in the second consecutive match but was denied by Kartik Tyagi.