Rising Pune Supergiants’ Ajinkya Rahane scores sixth half-century of IPL 2016 in match against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Rising Pune Supergiants’ (RPS)  Ajinkya Rahane and Saurabh Tiwary plundered half-centuries each to put their team in a commanding position against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 35 of Indian Premier League (RPS). Despite losing Usman Khawaja in the 3rd over, Rahane and Tiwary kept finding gaps to keep the scoreboard ticking. In fact, RPS scored 60 runs in the batting Powerplay, which is their best in IPL 9 so far. However, RCB dropped 3 regulation catches on the field. While Stuart Binny dropped Rahane, Sachin Babby dropped Saurabh Tiwary. To make matter worse, Shane Watson and Varun didn’t go for a simple catch due to misunderstanding. Moreover, KL Rahul had a torrid match, as he missed a stumping chance. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD, Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Rising Pune Supergiants, IPL 2016, Match 35 at Bangalore

Earlier, RCB won the toss and elected to bowl. Given the kind of trend modern-day captains follow, it was a good decision to put RPS to bat first. Gone are the days when the batsmen feel pressure while chasing down a mammoth total. However, it’s a must-win game for RPS as they have won only 3 matches out of 9. Thus, a defeat will end their dream of entering the Playoffs. The Bangalore curators dished out a belter of a track; and, yet again, this contest is expected to be a high-scoring one. To add more the fire, both teams boast of talismanic T20 players.

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RCB, on the other hand, have been at the doorstep of victory only twice in 7 matches. To stay on course in this tournament, they, too, will be looking to bag a win under their belt. In the previous contests between these two teams, RCB edged past RPS by 13 runs. Therefore, RCB have a slight psychological advantage over MS Dhoni’s men.

RCB captain Virat Kohli has been in the form of his life. With 433 runs to his name, he’s the Orange Cap holder. For RCB to get the better of RPS, Kohli will hold a key along with AB de Villiers. Meanwhile, RPS have been heavily relying on the class apart Ajinkya. Yet again, the onus will be on him to provide impetus.