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Royal Challengers Bangalore 62 for 7 (Kohli 25, Gopal 3-12, Thomas 2-6) and Rajasthan Royals 41 for 1 (Samson 28) Match abandoned
Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore were knocked out of contention for the IPL 2019 playoffs after incessant rain in Bengaluru forced their crucial tie against Rajasthan Royals to first be shortened and then abandoned on Tuesday.
Rain delayed the start of the match and it was only at 11:26 PM IST that the ground was good enough to host a five-overs-a-side affair.
After being put in to bat and having to wait hours as the rain refused to relent, RCB were able to put up 62-7 in their five overs.
Varun Aaron’s first over went for 23 runs. Virat Kohli started proceedings with back to back sixes before taking a single and getting AB de Villiers on strike.
de Villiers got two boundaries of his own and the home fans, who had to wait nearly 3 and a half hours to watch the game, were clearly salivating at the prospect of another Kohli-AB special.
Shreyas Gopal came on to bowl the second over and was greeted with a six and a four by Kohli. But Gopal had removed both these batsmen when the two teams met earlier this season and that is exactly what happened again.
A ball tossed up nicely saw Kohli go for another big shot but the lack of pace meant he only found Liam Livingstone at long-on.
AB de Villiers departed next, attempting a slog off another ball that was temptingly tossed up but only managed to splice it up and Riyan Parag collected a simple catch at extra cover.
On a hat-trick, the youngster once again looped one up towards Marcus Stoinis who whacked it but found Steve Smith at mid-off.
The hat-trick turned the game on its head. RCB looked on course to possibly reach the 100-run mark thanks to their start but they lost regular wickets thereafter and their innings ended without much flourish.
In reply, RR managed 41-1 in 3.2 overs and the match was nicely poised as they needed 22 more runs in 10 balls and had just lost Sanju Samson – who was striking the ball well – thanks to Yuzvendra Chahal.
However, another downpour saw the match instantly called off as there was no reserve time left.
