Abu Dhabi: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets to win second consecutive match in IPL 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Rajasthan Royals’ skipper Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat first on a pitch that looked suitable for batting. However, Rajasthan was not able to take the advantage of winning the toss and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Rajasthan’s innings was steadied by all-rounder Mahipal Lomror, who missed a well-deserved 50 by 3 runs. Lomror was well supported by Rahul Tewatia who scored a fiery 24 from 12 balls to help Rajasthan set 155-run target against Bangalore.
Chasing the target, skipper Kohli made unbeaten 72 (53 balls), while Devdutt Padikkal scored 63 (45 balls) to reach the target comfortably. Virat Kohli had a 99-run partnership with Padikkal for the third wicket for RCB. Kohli also achieved 5500 runs in the Indian Premier League and made a match-winning 72 runs. This is the first big score for Kohli in IPL 2020 after a poor start in the opening three games. RCB chased down the target with 5 balls to spare and move to the top of the IPL 2020 points table with 6 points.