Abu Dhabi: A late onslaught by Rahul Tewatia and a gutsy knock by Mahipal Lomror powered Rajasthan Royals to post a total of 154 runs in their allotted 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
Tewatia smashed three sixes and scored 24 runs at a strike of 200 to take Royals over 150 run mark. Royals smashed 37 runs in their last three overs.
Opting to bat first, Royals got off to a flyer with Jos Buttler smashing boundaries early in the innings. However, Isuru Udana found an inside edge of Steve Smith’s bat and the ball went straight onto his stumps in the third over.
Three balls later, a sharp catch by Devdutt Padikkal in the slips dismissed Buttler. Star batsman Sanju Samson wicket in the next over the added insult to an injury as Royals got reduced to 31/3.
Mahipal Lomror then Robin Uthappa in the middle and the dup put on a 39 run stand for the fourth wicket. The partnership which revamped Royals’ innings also witnessed a sluggish knock by Uthappa before he got out in the 11th over. The right-handed batsman scored 17 off 22 balls.
Yuzvendra Chahal ended Lomror’s (47) knock in the 17th over. The left-handed batsman played an important knock and rebuilt Royals’ innings.
In the death overs, Jofra Archer and Rahul Tewatia whacked some boundaries to take the Royals to a respectable total after a bad start.
For RCB, Chahal picked three while Udana scalped two wickets