On Sunday, April 13, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) crushed Rajasthan Royals (RR) by nine wickets in match 28th of the at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

After posting a below par total of 173/4 in their allotted 20 overs, the RR bowlers and fielders had a poor evening in front of their home fans, allowing RCB top order of Phil Salt, Virat Kohli, and Devdutt Padikkal to chase down the runs with 15 balls to spare.

For the unversed, after winning the toss, Rajat Patidar, the captain of RCB, decided to field first, and their bowlers kept the RR openers relatively quiet in the powerplay stage, allowing them to score just 45 runs.

Sanju Samson could only score 15 runs in 19 balls, but after that, Riyan Parag (30 off 22) provided some impetus to the RR in a 56-run stand for the second wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who also managed to find his touch.

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The dismissal of Yashasvi Jaiswal after scoring 75 runs in 47 balls with 10 fours and two sixes came at the worst possible time for RR just when they were trying to accelerate their innings in the death overs. Dhruv Jurel scored 35 runs in 23 balls with two fours and two maximums, but he got only two runs in his first eight balls, which meant that RR finished their innings without getting anywhere close to the par score of 180 runs despite a few drop catches from the RCB fielders at various stages.

In the run chase, RCB batting got off to a flyer with Phil Salt taking the attack to the RR bowlers, and he also got some help from the fielders, dropping him three times in the short space of time.

The English international scored 65 runs in just 33 balls with five fours and six maximums, to take the wind out of RR sails in the first half of the innings itself despite Kumar Kartikeya taking his wicket in the ninth over during their pursuit of the 174-run target.

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Following a 92-run opening wicket stand with Phil Salt in just 8.4 overs, Virat Kohli, who was anchoring the RCB run chase at the other end, didn't allow the RR bowlers to pick another wicket with his measured approach alongside Devdutt Padikkal. The unbeaten 83-run partnership between Kohli (62 off 45) and Padikkal (42 off 28) took RCB over the finishing line with more than a couple of overs to spare, to not only climb up the points table, but also boost their net run rate (NRR) in the process.