Bengaluru, April 30: Rain played a major spoilsport at M Chinnaswamy Stadium as the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 was called off on Wednesday (May 1). This match would be mainly remembered for its rain and the hat-trick from the Karnataka boy Shreyas Gopal.
Having being reduced to the 5 overs per side after rain gods prevented the game to start after a delay of four hours, only 8.2 overs could be bowled in all before the skies opened up, forcing the umpires to call off the game. With the abandonment of this game, Virat Kohli-led RCB's have been officially ruled out of the tournament.
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Kohli and his opening partner side started the proceeding with a bang after they came out to bat for the first five overs and set the target. Kohli and De Villierrs hammered 23 runs in the first over bolwed by Varun Aaron and looked to give the same treatment to leg-spinner Gopal before the latter turned things head on. After getting hit for a six and a four on the first two balls, Gopal removed Kohli (25 off 7), De Villiers (10) and Marcus Stoinis (0) off consecutive deliveries to claim his maiden T20 hat-trick.
The spinner from Karnataka dismissed Kohli for the third time while the South African legend for the fourth time in the IPL and stunned the hysteric Chinnaswamy crowd.
The dismissal of top-three opened the floodgates as rest of the RCB batsmen came into the middle and kept walking back towards the dugout. By the end of the fifth over, the hosts' scorecard read 62/7. They had scored 35 runs in the first 9 deliveries and scored 27 on the next 21 balls and lost seven wickets in the process.
Royals were off to a decent start in the run chase as openers Sanju Samson and Liam Livingstone gave them a solid start. Samson in particular looked in sublime touch as he scored 28 off 13 deliveries before Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed him. Rajasthan's scorecard read 41/1 in 3.2 overs and they needed 22 from the next 10 deliveries before the rain returned and the umpires decided to call it a day.
Here's how the match between RCB and RR panned out:
Oh No! Rain is back again and the match has been called off. The teams are walking outside the field. RCB are officially out of the tournament.
Wicket! Samson (28) hits Chahal high in the air and Pawan Negi takes a simple catch. Just the wicket RCB were looking for. RR - 41/1 after 3.2 overs.
Four! Thick edge from Samson and the ball races towards third man boundary on the final ball of the over. 18 runs came from that over. #RR - 40/0 after 3. 23 needed from 12 balls.
SIX!! Samson hits Khejroliya over long-off boundary. The ball lands in the second tier.
SIX!! Kulwant Khejrolia bowls his first ball in the IPL and gets hit for a maximum. Sanju welcomes the left-arm pacer to the crease with a brilliant six over long-on.
12 runs came from that over bowled by Navdeep Saini. RR 22/0 after 2 overs.
Dropped! Brilliant effort from Klaasen at point as he failed to hold on to the catch while diving towards his left and Livingstone gets a breather at 10. Would have been one of the catch of the season had he stuck to it.
SIX!! Livingstone pulls Saini and gets a maximum. 10 runs off 2 deliveries for the batsman.
Four! Navdeep Saini is welcomed by Livingstone by a boundary towards mid-wicket.
0,6,4,0,0,0! Back-to-back dot balls from Umesh after getting hit for a six and four on the previous deliveries. 10 runs came from the first over for #RR They need 53 more from the next 24 deliveries.
Four! Poor ball from Umesh and gets punished. Samson flicks him towards the fine-leg boundary.
SIX!! Sanju Samson hits Umesh Yadav over mid-wicket for a maximum. The ball sailed way back into the stands.
2nd innings! Sanju Samson and Liam Livingstone open innings for RR. Umesh Yadav starts with the new ball for RCB.
End of the innings! RCB have posted 62/7 in 5 overs. RR need 63 runs to win this game. RCB innings could be divided into two parts: First 1.3 overs - 35/0 (3 X 4s; 3 X 6s) Last 3.3 overs - 27/7 (3 X 4s).
Putting the brakes on #RCB's start, Shreyas Gopal is our game changer for the first innings for his hat-trick 😎😎 pic.twitter.com/CjIRWJ4OSi
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 30, 2019
Four & Wicket! What's happening out there? Pawan Negi gets a boundary off Thomas and later edges him to be caught behind by Samson. Negi departs for 4. RCB - 61/7 in 4.5 overs.
Wicket! Klaasen (6) too gets out. Thomas gets a wicket too. RCB - 57/6 in 4.3 overs.
Hat-trick takers for RR.
Hat-tricks for RR in IPL:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) April 30, 2019
Ajit Chandila v PWI, Jaipur, 2012
Pravin Tambe v KKR, Ahmedabad, 2014
Shane Watson v SRH, Ahmedabad, 2014
Shreays Gopal v RCB, Bangalore, 2019*#RCBvRR
Wicket! Parthiv Patel (8) tries to flick Unadkat and gives a simple catch to Thomas at short fine-leg. 9 runs and the wicket of in-form Parthiv for Unadkat. RCB - 54/5 in 4 overs.
Four! Leading edge from Parthiv's bat and he gets a boundary over fine-leg. With that shot came 50 runs for RCB.
RCB - 45/4 after 3 overs. 12 more deliveries to go in this innings.
Four & wicket! Gurkeerat gets a boundary off Riyan Parag and holes out the spinner to be caught at mid-wicket by Mahipal Lomror. They are losing wickets at regular intervals. RCB - 44/4 in 2.5 overs.
HAT-TRICK!! Marcus Stoinis departs for a golden duck and local boy Shreyas Gopal gets three-in-three. A simple catch by Smith at mid-off. RCB - 35/3 in 2.0 overs
Wicket! Two-in-two for Gopal. AB de Villiers (10) top-edges and Parag takes a simple catch. He's on a hat-trick. RCB - 35/2 in 1.5 overs
Wicket! Virat Kohli (25) tries to clear Shreyas Gopal over long-on. It was googly and the batsman couldn't time it well. Livingstone takes a simple catch. Gopal removes Kohli on third occasion in IPL. RCB - 35/1 after 1.4 overs.
SIX, Four! Virat Kohli welcomes Shreyas Gopal for a maximum over long-on and later gets a boundary towards long-off.
Four! AB de Villiers hits Varun Aaron over long-on boundary. 23 runs came from the first over.
Four! AB de Villiers too gets off the mark with a cut shot towards the third man.
Single to bring AB on strike! 13 off 3 balls so far!
SIX!! Thick outside-edge from Kohli and the ball sails over third man boundary for a maximum.
SIX!! Virat Kohli starts the proceedings with a maximum over long-off