Royale Challengers Bangalore on Thursday crushed Rajasthan Royals with a 10-wicket win as Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal added 177 runs for the opening wicket. Padikkal went on to score 51-ball century.
Batting first, Rajasthan Royals amassed a total of 177-9 in 20 overs. Shivam Dube was the top-scorer for his with 46 runs made in 32 balls. Rahul Tewatia contributed with 40 in 23 balls.
Mohammed Siraj finished with another impressive spell of 3-27 in four overs.
However, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal took just 16.3 overs to successfully chase the target. While Padikkal remained unbeaten at 101, made in 52 balls, Kohli was not out at 72 which he faced 47 runs to score. Between them, they hit nine sixes and 17 boundaries.
Kohli said after the match, “It was an outstanding innings, he batted really well for his first season last time as well. Bit of a talk about accelerating after 40-50, this was the best way to put it to rest. Great talent, great one to look forward in the future. I had the best seat in the house. I think T20 is all about partnership batting. You can’t always be the guy going dominant. When one guy goes, it’s important for me to rotate strike, and vice versa. Tonight my role was different and I wanted to hang in there. In the end I picked my spots, the pitch was good. We spoke about the 100, he said finish it off. He said many more to come, I told him you tell me that after you get the first one. I want him to build from here and really help the team. He deserved to get the hundred today, flawless innings. We don’t have many stand-out names in bowlers, but we have effective bowlers. Guys who can do it day in day out. Four out of four times we’ve been the stand-out team in the death overs. We actually restricted 30-35 runs. Dev’s innings was outstanding, but for me the bowling which was aggressive, optimistic was key. I would just tell the fans not to get overexcited, we are being professional, we understand the momentum can go away from us quickly. One step at a time, not getting overexcited.”
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson said, “Our batsmen did really well to get a score on the board but they did really well to chase without losing a wicket. We need to do some homework and need an honest review about our batting. That’s what this sport is all about, we keep on failing and we keep on coming about. It puts you down but you have to keep on fighting.”
Padikkal was declared Man Of The Match for his century.
Punjab Royals will lock horns with Mumbai Indians in the next match in Chennai tomorrow.