IPL 2024 began with Rajasthan Royals leading four from four after a convincing six-wicket victory that saw off Virat Kohli’s seventh IPL century. At the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday, Jos Buttler’s undefeated sixth IPL century—achieved off the final ball of the chase—and Sanju Samson’s brisk half-century helped the Royals cross the finish line with five balls remaining. It was the third time that Kohli’s IPL century came in a losing cause.
The quality of Kohli’s innings?
Kohli’s IPL hundreds have been better and more fluid than others. Due in part to the slightly sticky pitch in the opening half of the game, his innings were filled with shots that he was unable to time as effectively as he would have liked. Although there was a clear intention to assault, not all of his shots were as successful as he would have liked. He reached the three-figure mark in 67 balls, which is the joint-slowest time by any player in IPL history.
Nevertheless, he got rolling quickly and was dictating terms in the powerplay. He blasted Nandre Burger over the mid-on zone for a boundary in the second over, setting off an acceleration, and then he flipped another four through square leg. His most fruitful location, where he scored over three-quarters of his runs, was the space between deep square leg and deep mid wicket. In the pacer’s subsequent over, he even hit Burger for a six, giving RCB a commanding lead.
Though he got off to a fast start and kept up their scoring rate, Kohli stated following his innings that they had to recalculate the attempted total from 190 to 180 with one of the set openers batting until the very end because the pitch wasn’t as flat as it appeared from the outside. The royals had astute methods as well. While the spinners also altered their pace and forced the batters to smash towards the longer boundary, the pacers constantly removed pace and delivered the short of decent length.
Kohli did occasionally succeed in hitting a couple boundaries. Against Avesh Khan, he was especially effective in the final overs. He struck straight down the ground, sliced his yorker square of the wicket, flicked him through mid wicket, and even hit through the cover region for boundaries. Even though Kohli scored his joint-highest T20 total, RCB was limited to 183 for 3 because he failed to pick up the extra runs when he was approaching his century and did not have the same success against Burger in the final overs.
On the other end, what was going on?
With a thunderous drive over covers for four in the opening over, Faf du Plessis had ignited the innings and propelled RCB to a productive opening partnership. In addition to being the first team this season to complete a powerplay without losing a wicket, RCB also neutralized the Royals’ attack, which had taken nine wickets during this time in their opening three games.
Du Plessis amassed 125 runs for the first wicket alongside Kohli, marking the 47th century partnership for the team and the second-highest against the Royals. Even though the RCB captain was mostly off the strike for the majority of the innings, he made sure the pair scored more runs that day and kept up their pace of nearly nine runs per over to lay a solid foundation for the other batters to exploit in the later half of the innings.
Interestingly, a few of the stronger fielders for the Royals committed a few errors. Trent Boult dropped a sitter as Dhruv Jurel and Riyan Parag mishandled balls at the boundary. Despite the fact that the next ball was over 70 meters away, du Plessis slid off it and hit flat to Jos Buttler, so the lost catch didn’t end up being too costly. Even a few run-out opportunities were lost on them.
But the Royals were fast to seize the opportunity when du Plessis was out after hitting 44 off 33 balls, and they made sure the new batsmen had no easier time. Burger cleaned up Glenn Maxwell with a quicker ball after serving him a couple of slower ones. Not much to report on Saurav Chauhan’s debut, either, as he was removed for nine sixes after gifting a catch to Yashasvi Jaiswal at mid wicket, who got it on his second try. Cameron Green could manage just five runs in six deliveries, indicating that his attempt to force some big shots was not successful.
Could RCB fight for possession of the ball?
They appeared to have the ability to trouble RR early on, despite Kohli’s suggestion that the surface wasn’t as flat as it appeared. Yashasvi Jaiswal had Reece Topley top-edge a pull to mid off the chase’s second delivery. Buttler might have been apprehended soon and then fled. However, RCB wasted both opportunities. Early in the chase, the Royals opener—who had been having some inconsistent play lately—looked shaky. Only 25 runs could be scored by RR in the first four overs.
What took place next?
The run chase was controlled by Buttler and Samson.
The fifth over had seen the beginnings of a retaliation, but it was in the last powerplay over that they really went into overdrive, with Buttler hitting Mayank Dagar for three boundaries and a six. There were many mistakes made by the RCB fielders. Furthermore, on 28 Samson dove forward but was unable to hang on to a catch, giving Kohli the chance to dismiss him.
Samson, who was likewise tardy off the bat, moved into fifth gear in Dagar’s second over after hitting the left-arm spinner for two boundaries and a six, reaching his half-century at the same time.
As the collaboration prospered, RCB never ran out of concepts. The two hitters mostly targeted the straight boundaries, though they were quick to take advantage of subtle touches. They put up a 148-run stand in 86 balls, almost securing the game’s outcome. In the fifteenth over, Samson was bowled out, dragging Siraj to the fine leg fielder, who caught the ball just inches from the boundary.
Was there a surprise twist at the end?
The hosts didn’t have to worry too much because they just needed 32 runs in the final five overs. Although Jurel edged a delivery down the legside to the ‘keeper after Parag was bowled chipping to the short mid wicket fielder, RCB still had too much to risk in the match. Even so, at the end of the 14th over, when they were left defending just 38 runs with nine wickets in hand, they managed to extend it to the final over, which appeared quite impossible.
Buttler hit Green for a six over the deep mid wicket boundary with one run remaining in the last over, bringing up his sixth IPL century and helping RR cross the finish line.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 189/6 in 19.1 overs (Jos Buttler 100*, Sanju Samson 69; Reece Topley 2-27, Mohammed Siraj 1-35) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru 183/3 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 119*, Faf du Plessis 44; Yuzvendra Chahal 2-32, Nandre Burger 1-33) by 6 wickets.
