Mitchell Starc’s outstanding spell of three wickets for 22 runs and an untroubled 62 not out from Virat Kohli helped the beleaguered Royal Challengers Bangalore to a huge win against the Rajasthan Royals.
After a comfortable start, the table-topping Royals lost both openers in quick succession, with the in-form Ajinkya Rahane falling LBW to Harshal Patel for 18 in the fifth over and Shane Watson holing out for 26 in the sixth.
The innings continued to stutter, with boundaries at a premium, and Karun Nair became the third wicket to fall, run out thanks to a good throw from Harshal on the boundary rope. He was followed by Deepak Hooda for just one and Sanju Samson for four – both bowled – to leave the Royals in trouble at 89 for five.
Steve Smith and Stuart Binny put together an obdurate partnership of 30, but struggled to find any fluency before Smith was dismissed by his ODI team-mate Mitchell Starc for a 28-ball 31. Four balls later, Starc also had Binny back in the dugout as the Royals innings stuttered to a sorry close at 130 for nine.
Chris Gayle, who had been dropped for RCB’s previous match, began the reply in the manner of a man with a point to prove, but was dismissed for 20 by a clever slower ball from Watson after hitting three fours and a six.
RCB flexed their batting muscle by promoting AB de Villiers up the order to three and he and Kohli reached their 50 partnership from 6.1 overs. Kohli moved to a 39-ball half-century of his own, as the Royal Challengers eased home with 23 balls to spare.
