IPL 2015: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets, Stars and flops

It showed on Friday that how one in-form player can make a major difference to a unit. Mitchell Starc fired for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they comprehensively beat table toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) by nine wickets.

It showed on Friday that how one in-form player can make a major difference to a unit. Mitchell Starc fired for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as they comprehensively beat table toppers Rajasthan Royals (RR) by nine wickets.

RCB won the toss and put RR in. RR began decently but lost the in-form Ajinkya Rahane in the fifth over and from then onwards they kept losing wickets at regular interval. It was a Starc show, the Australian fast bowler bowled fast and accurate. He was well supported by Harshal Patel and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. In fact, none of the bowlers went for a lot of runs, as they managed to restrict RR to a paltry 130 on a good batting surface.

The men in red from Bangalore chased it off quite easily with captain Virat Kohli leading from the front. It’s good news for the RCB fans that the run machine is back in form and they will expect him to continue firing. In another sensible move, RCB think-tank decided to promote AB de Villiers, who was earlier batting at no. 5 to no.3. In doing so, they ensured their best three batsmen batted at the top three positions. RCB will hope to build on this momentum, while RR have lost two in a row and despite being at the top of the table, these are worrying signs.

Brief scores:

Rajasthan Royals 130 for 9 in 20 overs [Steve Smith 31 (28); Mitchell Starc 4-0-22-3, Harshal Patel 4-0-23-2, Yuzvendra Chahal 3.1-0-25-2] lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 134 for 1 in 16.1 overs [Virat Kohli 62 (46)*, AB de Villiers 47 (34)*] – by nine wickets