IPL 2018: Sanju Samson, Yuzvendra Chahal score perfect ten, Brendon McCullum disappoint as Rajasthan Royals pip RCB

The clash between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru turned out to be yet another high-scoring thriller as the visitors registered a narrow 19-run victory over the home team. Sanju Samson and Shreyas Gopal were the main architects of this fabulous away victory for the Royals as the duo shone with bat and ball respectively. It was Samson’s 45-ball unbeaten blitzkrieg of 92 runs that helped Rajasthan post a match-winning total of 217/4. Then,  Gopal’s match winning spell of 2/22 that sealed the victory for the visitors, restricting the home team to a total of 198/6. [caption id=“attachment_4433145” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sanju Samson was adjudged Man of the Match for his 45-ball 92. AFP[/caption] Virat Kohli and Yuzvendra Chahal deserve special mention from the Royal Challengers camp as they tried their best to take their team over the line. Chahal  finished with bowling figures of 2/22 in that carnage whereas Kohli threatened the Royals to take the match away from them with his 30-ball knock of 57 runs. Let us now have a look at how all the 22 players fared in the match on Sunday. Sanju Samson: 10/10 Sanju Samson showed what he is capable of as he smashed his way to an unbeaten knock of 92 runs 45 deliveries, thus helping the Royals post a score of 217/4. He started off slowly, batting at a gentle strike-rate for the major part of his innings until he launched an assault on the Bengaluru bowlers towards the end of the innings. His knock was star-studded with just a couple of fours and ten humungous sixes. Yuzvendra Chahal: 10/10 A match in which most of the bowlers were smashed all around the park, Chahal registered impressive bowling figures of 4-0-22-2. In the process, he also became Royal Challengers’ highest wicket-taker in IPL history. His wickets included those of D’Arcy Short and Ben Stokes. Shreyas Gopal: 10/10 The tall leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal turned up when the Royals were searching answers for the Kohli-de Villiers question. He bowled beautifully and registered bowling figures of 4-0-22-2. His duel with Virat Kohli was the one to watch and he had the last laugh dismissing the Bengaluru skipper. Also, AB de Villiers’ wicket afterwards was the icing on the cake. Virat Kohli: 9/10 Virat Kohli threatened the Royals right till the 11th over of the innings as he looked to be in sublime touch with the bat. He was equally lethal against both pacers and the spinners and raced away to 57 runs off 30 deliveries before holing out to Short at deep-midwicket boundary off Shreyas Gopal’s bowling. Washington Sundar: 9/10 Sundar did everything right both with bat and ball. The only thing he couldn’t do was helping his team to victory. He bowled the most crucial overs during Rajasthan’s innings, yet conceded only 30 runs in his four-over spell. Moreover, he raised RCB’s hopes of a win, smashing 35 runs off just 19 deliveries when everything looked lost. Mandeep Singh: 8/10 Mandeep Singh tried his best to win it for Bengaluru along with Sundar. However, his 25-ball knock of 47 still could not take his team to the finishing line. He played some beautiful shots but missed out on hitting some bad deliveries too. Ajinkya Rahane: 7/10 The Royals’ skipper himself provided his team with the initial impetus they required in the innings. Opening the innings with Short, Rahane romped along to a score of 36 off just 20 deliveries before holing out to Umesh Yadav off Chris Woakes’ bowling. Ben Stokes: 7/10 Stokes looked really threatening with the bat as long as he was there at the crease. He registered 27 runs to his name off 21 deliveries, walking out to bat at number four. As far as his bowling was concerned, he came back well during his second spell after being hit during his first spell. He registered bowling figures of 3-0-32-1 and thus made a nice all-round contribution to Rajasthan’s victory. Jos Buttler: 7/10 Buttler walked out to bat at number five for Rajasthan and started hitting it big without wasting any time. He scored 23 runs off just 14 deliveries and maintained a healthy run rate in the middle overs when Samson was gearing up for the assault a few overs later. Rahul Tripathi: 7/10 Rahul Tripathi did not spend much time at the crease. However, he made full use of the five deliveries he faced, smashing 14 runs in them. His cameo consisted of one four and one six and added some crucial runs at a crucial stage of the innings. Quinton de Kock: 6/10 The South African keeper-batsman started off nicely building a 77-run partnership for the third wicket with Kohli. However, he fell prey to D’Arcy Short as he hit a well flighted delivery straight to Jaydev Unadkat stationed at the deep mid-wicket boundary. D’Arcy Short: 6/10 Short could not do any damage with the bat today as he struggled for 17 deliveries to score just 11 runs.  Although Kohli smashed him for a six only in the second delivery he bowled, he showed good heart and courage, returning with the wicket of Quinton de Kock and giving away just 10 runs in that over despite conceding that six. AB de Villiers: 5/10 He walked out to bat when de Kock departed after a superb 77-run stand with Kohli. However, he could contribute only 20 runs off 18 deliveries before his innings was cut short by the same bowler who dismissed Kohli. Chris Woakes: 5/10 Woakes bowled a good first spell as he claimed the wicket of Rahane and conceded only 15 runs at an economy of 7.50. However, he was taken to the cleaners in his second spell. He leaked 32 runs in his final two overs even though he took the wicket of Buttler. He registered bowling figures of 4-0-47-2. As far as his batting is concerned, he got to face only one delivery and didn’t manage to score any run off that. Krishnappa Gowtham: 5/10 Gowtham drew first blood into the Royal Challengers’ innings, dismissing Brendon McCullum in his very first over. However, he didn’t have that great a time after that as he leaked some crucial runs. He ended up with bowling figures of 4-0-36-1. Jaydev Unadkat: 3/10 Unadkat proved to be ineffective with the ball, conceding 35 runs in the three overs that he bowled. However, he took two crucial catches to dismiss Bengaluru’s South African recruits, de Villiers and de Kock. Ben Laughlin: 2/10 Laughlin bowled some very good deliveries but still got smashed away for 46 runs in his four overs. The wicket of Negi, however, gave him some reason to celebrate at least. Umesh  Yadav: 1/10 Umesh Yadav  came into this match on the back of two terrific bowling performances. However, he was taken to the cleaners by the Rajasthan Royals’ batsmen this time as he leaked 59 runs in his quota of four overs. Kulwant Khejroliya: 1/10 Khejroliya didn’t have the best of outings with the ball either. He conceded 40 runs in his three overs as he mostly bowled length without much variation in his bowling. Brendon McCullum: 1/10 This was McCullum’s second consecutive failure with the bat in three games. He smashed a boundary to start off his innings but then gave a simple catch to Ben Stokes at the deep mid-wicket boundary off Krishnappa Gowtham’s bowling to conclude his innings. Pawan Negi: 1/10 Negi’s first outing of the season didn’t go well as he could impress neither with the bat nor with the ball. He bowled only one over conceding 13 runs and managed only three runs with the bat. Dhawal Kulkarni: 1/10 It would be unfair to rate Kulkarni’s performance as he bowled only one over. However, those little chances are the ones to grab if someone wants to prove himself.  Kulkarni conceded 14 runs in his only over which didn’t help Rajasthan’s cause during the initial stage of the Royal Challengers’ innings.   Rating chart: 10-9: Excellent, 8-7: Good, 6-5: Average, 4-3: Poor, 2-1: Very poor