Rajasthan Royals recorded an easy six-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru to extend their winning streak in the IPL 2024 on Saturday. Virat Kohli scored a brilliant century to help RCB post 183 total but Jos Buttler's 100* and a fifty from Sanju Samson helped Royals to a successful chase with 5 balls remaining.
Virat Kohli smashed 113* off 72 balls to bring the first hundred of the IPL 2024 but RCB struggled to go past 200 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Buttler became the only second player in IPL history to register a century in his 100th match.
Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first with unchanged playing eleven against Bengaluru. Faf du Plessis-led RCB handed an IPL debut to young batter Saurav Chauhan who replaced wicketkeeper batter Anuj Rawat.
RCB enjoyed a dominant start with Kohli and du Plessis producing a 125-run stand for the opening wicket in 14 overs. Kohli was impressive from the start as he produced his eighth IPL century and first against Rajasthan Royals in 67 balls.
However, despite a lack of wickets, Royals bowlers bowled economical spells to deny RCB a 200-plus total. Kohli scored 113* runs off 72 balls and Faf scored 44 off 33 balls as RCB posted 183/3 in 20 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets for 34 for the hosts while Nandre Burger picked one.
Chasing a tough total, the Royals lost young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal on a duck on the very second delivery of the game. But Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler added match-defining 148 runs for the second wicket to keep the game favour in the Royals.
Samson departed after scoring 69 off 42 balls as Bengaluru took some timely wickets to take the game to the last over. But Buttler smashed a huge six off Cameron Green on the first balls of the last over to bring his century and take the Royals to two big points.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru Playing XI: Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis (c), Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Saurav Chauhan, Reece Topley, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal.
Rajasthan Royals Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Nandre Burger, Yuzvendra Chahal.
