Mumbai, April 5 (IANS) A crucial 67-run partnership between Dinesh Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed helped Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets in Match 13 of the IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium, here on Tuesday.
Karthik (44 not out off 23) and Shahbaz Ahmed (45 off 26) came together with RCB reduced to 87/5 in the 13th over. Their partnership propped up Royal Challengers to 154/6 as they successfully chased down Rajasthan Royal’s 169/3, powered solely by a brilliant unbeaten 70 by Jos Buttler.
Karthik and Ahmed raised 67 runs off 33 balls to put RCB on course to four points with their second win in three games.
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Their heroics came after Buttler struck a superb unbeaten 70 to propel Rajasthan Royals to a below-par 169/3 in 20 overs against a disciplined Royal Challengers Bangalore attack.
Buttler, who scored a century against Mumbai Indians in their previous match, blasted four sixes in the last two overs of the innings as he remained unbeaten on 70 runs (42 balls, 6×6) and shared two vital partnerships — an 83-run unfinished stand with Shimron Hetmyer (42 not out – 31 balls, 4×4, 6×2) for the fourth wicket and a 70-run partnership 0ff 49 deliveries with Devdutt Padikkal (37 – 29 balls, 4×2, 6×2) — which helped Rajasthan Royals set up RCB a target of 170 to chase.
But in the end, Karthik and Shahbaz Ahmed ensured that RCB achieved that target with five deliveries to spare.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 169/3 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 70*, Devdutt Padikkal 37, Shimron Hetmyer 42*; Harshal Patel 1/18, David Willey 1/29) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 173/6 in 19.1 overs (Dinesh Karthik 44*, Shahbaz Ahmed b Boult 45, Faf du Plessis 29; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/15, Trent Boult 2/34) by four wickets
