Bangalore, Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) last hope of making it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) play-offs finally ended on Tuesday after their contest with Rajasthan Royals was abandoned at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, here due to continous rain.
With the result, both the teams were awarded a point each.
Chasing a 63-run target in a rain-hit contest, which was reduced to five over per side, the visitors were at 41/1 in 3.2 overs when rains washed out the match.
Opener Liam Livingstone was unbeaten on 11 runs while Sanju Samson smashed a 13-ball 28 to keep his side on the hunt before falling to Yuzvendra Chahal (1/0) in the fourth over.
Earlier, despite a flying start, Bangalore could only manage to put 62/7 in the allotted five overs.
Shreyas Gopal was the star for the visitors after he claimed the second hat-trick of this year’s edition. The leg-spinner accounted for the wicket of RCB skipper Virat Kohli (25 off 7), AB de Villers (10 off 4) and Marcus Stoinis (0) in the second over to apply brakes on a fine start by Bangalore.
With the match being reduced to five overs per side affair, Kohli and de Villers started the Bangalore innings on a high as they clobbered Varun Aaron for 23 runs in the first over. The Bangalore skipper then hammered Gopal for 12 runs in his first three balls before becoming a victim of the leggie.
Kohli while trying to clear the fence handed a catch to Livingstone at long-on. Gopal then went on to add more sorrows in the Bangalore camp as he scalped de Villiers and Stoinis in the next two deliveries to put the hosts in deep trouble, leaving them reeling at 35/3.
Just as Bangalore could add another nine runs, Riyan Parag packed back Gurkeerat Singh Mann (6 off 3), who was followed by Parthiv Patel (8 off 5). While trying to go for the maximum, Heinrich Klaasen (6) and Pawan Negi (4) also fell soon, leaving Bangalore at 61/7 in five overs.
While Oshane Thomas (2/6) accounted for the wicket of Klaasen and Negi, Jaydev Unadkat (1/9) picked Parthiv in the fourth over.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 62/7 in 5 overs (Virat Kohli 25, AB de Villiers 10; Shreyas Gopal 3/12) vs Rajasthan Royals 41/1 in 3.2 overs (Sanju Samson, Liam Livingstone 11; Yuzvendra Chahal 1/0) Match abandoned due to rain
