IPL Eliminator: RR restrict RCB to 172/8; Ashwin, Avesh shine with ball

Ahmedabad [Gujarat], May 22 (ANI): After Ravichandran Ashwin with his crafty spin unveiled his magic at a crucial stage at the Narendra Modi Stadium and Avesh Khan's pace assault rattled the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's (RCB) batters, a resurgent Mahipal Lomror staged a thrilling comeback to help his team post 172/8 against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Eliminator on Wednesday.
Ashwin finished with figures of 2-19 while Avesh Khan was the pick of the bowlers as he returned with 3-44, bagging the important wickets of Rajat Patidar, Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Karthik. For RCB, Lomror played a crucial innings of 32 runs while Virat Kohli smashed 33 and Rajat Patidar scored 34 runs off 22 balls.
Opting to bowl first, RR's Trent Boult started his team's change with a fine two-run over while keeping Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli at bay.
Boult bowled a three-run over but Avesh Khan's 17-run over took off the pressure off RCB batters. Avesh was hit for 17 runs in his first over as Kohli started the over with a six over backward square leg before Faf slammed two fours.
In the 5th over, Boult finally got a reward for putting pressure on the RCB openers as he gave a big blow to RCB, sending attacking opener Faf back to the dugout after he had scored 17 runs off 14 balls.
Kohli added a record to his name after becoming the first batter to reach the milestone of 8000 runs in the IPL. Kohli lost his wicket to Yuzvendra Chahal in the eighth over. Kohli achieved this feat in the 252nd match of his IPL career.
Kohli went for the favoured slog-sweep, whipping it away towards deep mid-wicket with a miss timed connection and the ball went into the hands of fielder Donovan Ferreira who settled himself a few inches inside the ropes and took a fine catch.
RCB's star all-rounder Cameron Green decided to up the ante in the 10th over and slammed Yuzvendra Chahal for a six and a four in the two deliveries of the over, gathering 13 runs.
In the 13th over, Ravichandran Ashwin unveiled his magic at a crucial stage with his crafty spin and bamboozled Green and Glenn Maxwell. Green went back to the pavilion after scoring 27 while Maxwell continued his poor form in IPL with a duck. Ashwin signed off with outstanding figures of 2/19 from four overs, removing Green and Maxwell in successive deliveries in his final over.
After dismissing Patidar, Avesh successfully appealed for a leg-before against Dinesh Karthik, almost securing back-to-back wickets. After talking with the non-striker, Karthik took the review. Replays revealed a nick on UltraEdge with the ball near the inside edge of the bat, leading the TV umpire to rule in favour of the batter.
Chahal gave up seven runs in his last over to finish with figures of 1/43. He played tight, giving up just three singles in the first five deliveries. In the last delivery, Lomror slog-swept him for a six.
Avesh then bagged his second wicket of the night as he dismissed Karthik for 11 and went on to dismiss well-set batter Lomror for 32.
In the final over, RCB was able to gather 13 to post a competitive total of 172/8.
Brief score: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 172/8 (Mahipal Lomror 32, Virat Kohli 33; Avesh Khan 3-44) vs Rajasthan Royals. (ANI)