Mustafizur Rahman’s intelligent and athletic fielding saved a certain boundary in what was yet another forgettable outing for his side in the Indian Premier League against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Mustafizur Rahman’s exceptional fielding saved a certain boundary and won many hearts during Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) seven-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It was in the ninth over of RCB’s run-chase when batsman Glenn Maxwell pulled a rising Kartik Tyagi delivery that looked to be sailing over the fence for a six. However, Mustafizur shocked everyone watching with his sustained hang-time to slap the ball inside the boundary while still being in the air.
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Not only with the fielding, but Mustafizur also bowled well and picked up two wickets for just 20 runs in three overs.
Glenn Maxwell hit his second successive half-century to fire Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The Australian batting all-rounder made an unbeaten 50 off 30 deliveries as Bangalore chased down their victory target of 150 in 17.1 overs in the Twenty20 tournament.
Bowlers set up the team’s second straight win with paceman Harshal Patel taking three wickets and spinners Shahbaz Ahmed and Yuzvendra Chahal claiming two each to restrict Rajasthan to 149-9.
Virat Kohli’s Bangalore stay third in the eight-team table, led by Chennai Super Kings, and eye a strong league finish in their bid for a maiden title.
Kohli, who hit 25, and Devdutt Padikkal, who scored 22, started briskly for the opening wicket to lay the foundation for the chase.
Srikar Bharat (44) and Maxwell put on a third-wicket stand of 69 to take the attack to the opposition bowlers despite Bangladesh left-arm quick Mustafizur Rahman striking twice.
Bharat fell short of his fifty but Maxwell, who made a match-winning 56 in the previous game, completed his 50 with two straight boundaries.
Earlier, Royals collapsed from a comfortable 100-1 in 11 overs to 117-5 with debutant left-arm quick George Garton sending back Evin Lewis for 56 and Ahmed striking twice in his first over.
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Chahal also struck twice to return impressive figures of 2-18 from his four overs of leg spin and was named man of the match.
Patel, who got a hat-trick in his team’s previous win, rattled the middle and lower order and struck on successive deliveries.
Royals, winners of the inaugural edition in 2008, are seventh in the table. “We don’t have anything to lose. That kind of mindset brings a lot of freedom, have seen some funny things happen,” said Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson.
Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara was disappointed after suffering a defeat against Royal Challengers Banglore (RCB). Sangakkara was unimpressed by Morris’ overall performance and said it was a poor performance and he knows that he has let his team down. Morris is yet to bag a wicket in the UAE leg of the IPL and so far he has been expensive in the three matches that he has played.
“Chris Morris did brilliantly for us in the first half and he has not done the job as we would have liked him to in the second half. He knows that and we know that. 50 runs from four overs, his last over was the last throw of the dice to try and get a wicket. We were well out of the game at that point,” said Sangakkara during a virtual post-match press conference,”
“He has done well for us in certain parts and whoever we think of playing next will be the best person to come into the side to play against the opposition,”
