IPL: Maxwell, Faf weave magic once again as RCB defeat RR

After falling narrowly short of a record chase against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk, the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) are back with a bang in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) with two wins in as many matches.

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Following their all-round display against the Punjab Kings in a 24-run win in Mohali on Thursday, RCB collected their second win on the trot with a seven-run win over Rajasthan Royals in the afternoon fixture on the Sunday double-header.

And victory was a redemption of sorts for Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis, whose blazing third-wicket partnership came in a winning cause after nearly helping Bangalore pull off the highest-ever chase last week in Chennai.

Maxwell, who only recently returned to international cricket after a long injury layoff, wasted precious little time getting his eye in after joining du Plessis at the centre, hitting a boundary off his very first ball of the afternoon, that too off Trent Boult who was in the middle of a dream powerplay spell.

1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ #TATAIPL runs for #RCB ✅
Third #IPL2023 5️⃣0️⃣✅
Leading the counter-attack ✅

Maxwell is tonking them big at the Chinnaswamy 💥#RCBvRR #IPLonJioCinema | @Gmaxi_32 pic.twitter.com/3c8BJKoSkm

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 23, 2023

Maxwell would follow it up with another boundary just three deliveries later to signal a shift in the momentum and begin a sensational counter-attack against the Royals.

Du Plessis then struck back-to-back sixes along with a four off Sandeep Sharma the following over as RCB’s scoring rate suddenly jumped close to the 10-mark, and from thereon, it was a one-way traffic until the 14th over as Maxwell and du Plessis toyed with the Rajasthan attack.

The Aussie-South African pair smashed the opposition bowles to all parts of an M Chinnaswamy Stadium that remained helpful to the batters even though it wasn’t quite the usual Chinnaswamy under the afternoon sun, both bringing up their half-centuries along the way with du Plessis becoming the first batter this season to breach the 400-barrier to stay on top of the Orange Cap chart.

It took a sensational direct hit by Yashasvi Jaiswal near extra cover that caught Faf just short of the non-striker’s end for Rajasthan to break the marathon stand. Maxwell fell to the wily Ravichandran Ashwin the following over, miscuing a switch hit to get caught at backward point.

The departure of the two well-set batters however, cost Bangalore a minimum of 15-20 runs as they failed to breach the 200-mark despite the solid foundation that the third-wicket stand provided as none of the other batters really stood up and put in the kind of performance Maxi and Faf did.

Had it not been Mohammed Siraj’s early dismissal of the dangerous Jos Buttler, some outstanding fielding as well as excellent death bowling from seamer Harshal Patel (3/32), the slowdown in the business end of the Bangalore innings could ultimately have cost them yet another ‘Green Game’ — an annual tradition for the Royal Challengers where they don a green kit instead of the usual red, which was the case on Sunday.

Skipper Virat Kohli, who has now won two-in-two for Bangalore after filling in for the injured du Plessis, did express his delight at the manner in which Maxwell expressed himself at the centre and also made special mention of Harshal for ensuring Rajasthan ultimately fell short after a spirited fightback from the likes of Devdutt Padikkal and Jaiswal.

“The counter-attack from Maxi and Faf was even better than the Chennai game, it was a better surface that day. Maxi took the game away in just four overs. We thought 160 might be enough but the way they batted helped us to 190.

“He (Harshal) always bowls the tough overs, not easy at Chinnaswamy. He’s closed out games against DC and today as well. So massive credit to the way he has performed,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.

RCB will be eyeing revenge when they take on the struggling Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy in their next encounter, with Kohli — who earlier mentioned he might lead the side “for a while” — eyeing a hat-trick of wins under his leadership.

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