Under pressure Rajasthan Royals put forth a sharp bowling effort to restrict Royal Challengers Bengaluru to 172/8 in their Indian Premier League Eliminator on Wednesday.
Led by Trent Boult (4-0-16-1), who produced an opening spell of 3-0-6-1, RR bowlers kept taking wickets at crucial stages to control the game at Ahmedabad.
The venerable Ravichandran Ashwin (4-0-19-2), having previously gone wicketless for a significant stretch, left an indelible mark with wickets Cameron Green (27) and Glenn Maxwell (0) on consecutive deliveries while Avesh Khan (3/44) also chipped in.
Rajasthan's bowling was adequately backed up by their fielders, particularly Rovman Powell, who took two stunning catches that clipped RCB's progress.
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Powell complemented Boult's brilliance in the powerplay with an outstanding catch, running in from deep midwicket to put in a dive in front when Faf du Plessis (17) hit one hard towards him for RR's first breakthrough.
On a docile deck, Boult controlled both his swing and lines to perfection as he kept it tight for the batters to score off him.
But, if Boult kept a lid on RCB, his fellow seamers failed to follow the lead.
Sandeep Sharma gave away 25 runs in his two overs while Avesh went for 17 runs in his one as RCB motored to 50/1 in the powerplay.
Virat Kohli (33 off 24) looked set for a long haul but the wily Yuzvendra Chahal (1/43) cut short his stay in the eighth over, getting the RCB mainstay caught at deep midwicket where substitute fielder Donovan Ferreira took a fine catch above his head.
Chahal lured Kohli for the slog sweep with a delivery that hardly turned and Kohli failed in execution as he hit straight to the fielder.
Both Cameron Green (27) and Rajat Patidar (34) began impressively but couldn't push on.
Green, who smacked a six and a four off Ashwin to shrug off a slow start, perished against the India spinner when he went for a slog in the 13th over but mistimed it.
The ball went high in the air off Green's toe end of the bat, giving Powell enough time to keep his eyes on it as he moved back. Taking it above his head reverse cupped, Powell did hit the ground hard but stood back up immediately signalling the fall had no impact.
RCB's slipped further as Maxwell's horror run persisted, with the seasoned batter hitting one straight to Dhruv Jurel, who had earlier dropped Patidar on 5.
Patidar showed the right intent but perished to short delivery from Avesh which kept rising on him and the batter played it straight to mid-on.
To his credit, Mahipal Lomror hit a quick 17-ball 32 to provide RCB with some late impetus.
Dinesh Karthik (11) was adjudged leg-before on the field but the batter got it overturned via DRS. However, the replays left RR convinced there was a gap between the bat and pads, but the third umpire thought otherwise.
