Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed’s remarkable fightback powered Bangalore to a narrow but thrilling 3-wicket victory over Rajasthan in the Match No 13 of the ongoing Indian T20 cricket league 2022 tournament played at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday night.
Bangalore were struggling at 87/5 in 12.3 overs chasing 170 to win against Rajasthan and it looked increasingly difficult for them to go past the finish line, with a flurry of wickets, a rapidly rising asking rate and tough conditions for batting proving to be hindrance.
A defeat looked certain for the Bangalore side, but a 67-run stand for the 6th wicket between Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed turned the tables on Rajasthan, who suffered their first defeat in three matches but remained at the top of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 points table with the best Net Run Rate among all teams so far.
The fightback was initiated by Dinesh Karthik who began his superb knock with a couple of fours and a six off Rajasthan spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in the 14th over of the chase, and the Bangalore wicketkeeper-batsman continued to bat in similar vein in the overs that followed.
Before this over, Bangalore needed 61 runs from the last six overs at a required run rate of more than 10 an over.
While Dinesh Karthik got 2 fours in the next over from Navdeep Saini, Shahbaz Ahmed hit 1 four in the final ball of the 15th over. The next over from Prasidh Krishna fetched a six and a four to Bangalore, with Shahbaz Ahmed freeing up his arms to bring down the equation to 31 needed from 24 balls.
Even though Shahbaz Ahmed perished after hitting a six and a four off Trent Boult in the 18th over, Rajasthan did not have any fight left in them to stop Bangalore from making 15 runs from the last 12 balls. Bangalore eventually prevailed, scoring 173/6 from their 19.1 overs.
Dinesh Karthik remained unbeaten on 44 not out which came from only 23 balls, 7 fours and 1 six, whereas Shahbaz Ahmed was dismissed for 45, which came from 23 balls, 3 sixes and 4 fours.
Earlier in the innings, Bangalore were boosted by a strong 55-run opening stand between their captain Faf du Plessis and wicket-keeper batsman Anuj Rawat, who both scored 29 and 26 respectively.
Despite making a confident start, Bangalore were pushed to the limit by Rajasthan, struck at regular intervals to dismantle the middle order. Yuzvendra Chahal produced a fine spell of 4-0-15-1, accounting for Faf du Plessis and David Willey while playing a crucial role in the run-out of former Bangalore captain Virat Kohli, who fell for 5.
David Willey was dismissed for a second ball duck by India and Rajasthan leg-spinner whereas he was instrumental in running out his former captain V Kohlii for 5, which left the Bangalore side reeling in their chase.
Earlier in the game, Rajasthan’s English wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler continued with his rich vein of form with the bat as he remained unbeaten on 70 to lift his team’s total to a competitive 169/3 in their 20 overs, despite them struggling to get runs and momentum for a large part of their innings.
Buttler faced 47 balls and hit 6 sixes — his innings included no fours — as he partnered with Devdutt Padikkal and Shimron Hetmyer to bolster Rajasthan’s batting innings with strong partnerships in the middle.
Buttler and Padilkkal added 70 runs from 49 balls for the second wicket after Rajasthan lost their opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal for 4. Padikkal scored a fluent 37 from 29 balls with a couple of sixes and as many fours.
Sanju Samson had a rare off day — he usully fires in the initial matches of the competition and particularly at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai — he made a run-a-ball 8 with the help of a six before his wicket was snaffled by Bangalore’s Sri Lankan import Wanindu Hasaranga.
Shimron Hetmyer continued his rich form with the bat in the third contest for his team in this competition, smacking 4 fours and 2 sixes to reach 42 not out from 31 balls, and in the process he put on the biggest partnership of the match.
Rajasthan seem to have been woken up from a slumber — a sluggish pitch and tremendously humid atmosphere made run-scoring extremely difficult for the majority of their innings — when the West Indian Shimron Hetmyer joined Jos Buttler in the middle.
Jos Buttler and Shimron Hetmyer added 83 runs unbeaten for the fourth wicket, which was the best stand among the two teams that faced-off in Mumbai on Tuesday night.
Rajasthan will now look to pick themselves up for their next clash, which is against Lucknow on April 10 whereas Bangalore will aim for consistency on the road ahead, as they next take on Mumbai on April 9.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
