Ashwin and Parag end RR's losing streak vs RCB

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the thirty-ninth game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Riyan Parag was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Ashwin promoted by Royals once more

Sent in, the Royals lost Devdutt Padikkal in the first over of the match, and in walked Ravichandran Ashwin, who was batting at one drop for the second time this season.

Was he a pinch-hitter or, given the Royals' lack of hitting depth, a pinch-blocker, sent out to prevent more valuable batters from being dismissed in the powerplay?

The move had some logic, and Ashwin's aim suggested it was the former. While he lacks the raw power to consistently find the boundary later in the innings, he is a free-scoring timer of the ball in longer-format cricket, capable of finding gaps while the field is up.

He accomplished precisely that off Mohammed Siraj, hitting four boundaries in two overs before being removed while going for a monster hit - 17 off 9, job done.

Hetmyer, Buttler, and Samson

The very next ball, Jos Buttler was out, miscuing Josh Hazlewood to mid-on. A poor score was inevitable after three hundreds in his first seven games of the season.

Faf du Plessis brought on Wanindu Hasaranga almost as soon as Sanju Samson went in. When a second-string India squad visited Sri Lanka for a white-ball series last year, the legspinner tormented Samson mercilessly. Prior to yesterday, Hasaranga had removed Samson four times in Twenty20 cricket, with Samson scoring only eight runs in 15 balls.

Samson smacked and lofted Hasaranga for a four and a six in his opening over, the sixth of the Royals' innings, threatening to deviate from the script early on. Then he blasted a pair of sixes off Shahbaz Ahmed's left-arm spin, but Hasaranga came back for the 10th over, just as he was looking menacing. Samson attempted two reverse sweeps, both of which were unsuccessful, and he was bowled on his second attempt.

Daryl Mitchell, the Royals' newest middle-order batter/sixth bowling option, failed to time the ball and kept muscling singles to deep fielders until holing out for 16 off 24 in the 15th over. The Royals were in a bit of a bind at 99 for 5, but it was a decent starting place for Shimron Hetmyer, who had a strike rate in the 170s without being dismissed for less than 25 runs until yesterday. The law of averages eventually caught up with him, as he was out for three after miscuing a slog-sweep off a Hasaranga wrong'un.

Parag has his own pitch to play on

The Royals added 75 runs to their total after reaching 69 for 4 at the midway point. Riyan Parag made 55 runs off 28 balls, including three fours and four sixes. The other end and extras combined for 20 out of 32 runs and zero boundaries.

The conditions - the ball was sticking and occasionally kicking up from the back-of-a-length region - the bowling, and the Royals' situation all conspired to keep Parag quiet for the majority of his innings, but he showed why the Royals had put so much faith in him on either side of it.

First, when Ahmed overpitched in the 11th over, he attacked him courageously, displaying great clarity of intent despite the fact that he'd only just been at the crease, hitting him for a six and a four down the ground.

Then, with only the tail to accompany him, he went after Hazlewood and Harshal Patel in the final two overs, causing the majority of the damage as the Royals looted 30 off those 12 balls. There were three sixes and two fours in that time, the best of which were a front-foot loft over extra-cover off Hazlewood and a last-ball short-arm draw off Patel.

What's worse than a first-pitch strikeout?

First-ball dismissals, such as Virat Kohli's in his previous two innings, can happen to anyone at any time if you get a good ball or make your first error. It's best not to read too much into them.

Kohli's performance against the Royals, on the other hand, left more space for interpretation. He was on the verge of being out for a third-ball duck when his uppish flick fell short of square leg. After that, he hit Trent Boult for four runs and sent two inside-edges past his stumps. Then he pushed Prasidh Krishna into his pads, and four balls later, he caught the hook, only to have the ball bounce into the hands of Parag racing in from backward point.

Kohli's resigned smile, which has been on his face several times in recent weeks, reappeared as he trudged off, without waiting for the umpire to call him out.

Sen-sational

In the third, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth overs, du Plessis struck a boundary each, and RCB finished the powerplay at slightly over a run per ball.

Kuldeep Sen entered the attack at this juncture, and with his second and third balls, he took two crucial wickets, both off balls that were short of the good length. The first came to a halt on du Plessis, who whacked the ball to extra-cover. Glenn Maxwell directed the second, which had gained extra bounce, straight to the fielder who'd just been pulled in at slip. RCB had a 37-3 record.

Royals finish job

RCB had a difficult task ahead of them with Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in charge of the middle overs, and it proved to be so. Only one boundary was hit in the first four post-powerplay overs, and Ashwin closed that phase by bowling another right-hander with a carrom ball from wide of the crease, this time Rajat Patidar.

Dinesh Karthik was called to the crease as a result, and a firm sweep for four off Chahal in the 13th over signalled RCB weren't out of it yet. However, a mix-up with Ahmed left him in mid-pitch when the ball was lobbed into Chahal's hands two balls later. Chahal lost the ball, but dragged it into the stumps, nearly accidently breaking the wicket of Karthik, who failed to see the blunder early enough and was too sluggish to retake his crease.

The game was practically over at 72 for 6, with 73 needed off the final 44 balls. RCB dragged it all the way to the penultimate over before Parag took his fourth catch of the innings, giving Sen his fourth wicket.