Bangalore: Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal said it felt good to take a hat-trick against RCB while dismissing AB de Villers and Virat Kohli for the second time in this edition of the Indian Premier League.
Gopal dismissed the likes of RCB skipper Kohli (25 off 7), de Villers (10 off 4) and Marcus Stoinis (0) to apply brakes on a fine start by Bangalore on Tuesday night and reduced them to 62-7 in the rain-hit five-overs match at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, the match was abandoned after rain came calling again when the visitors were 41-1 after 3.2 overs during their chase.
It was the second time that Gopal had dismissed Kohli and de Villiers in the tournament. After the match, he said it felt great to get batsmen like Kohli and de Villiers out. “I had a lot more nerves than what they would have had against me. It feels good to be getting them out,” Gopal said at the post-match press conference.
“Unfortunately for us, we didn’t cross the line and didn’t fall on the winning side. We still don’t know how things are in the (points) table. But it feels good to take those wickets in whatever overs that we had. I am pretty happy about that,” he added.
Gopal became the second bowler after Sam Curran of Kings XI Punjab to take a hat-trick in the ongoing IPL season. The result of Tuesday’s match meant while RCB have been knocked out of the tournament, the equation has become even tougher for Rajasthan to make it to the playoffs.
Rajasthan, with 11 points, will have to win their final encounter at any cost and also hope for favourable results in other matches in order to make it to the playoffs. Rajasthan, without their skipper Steve Smith, will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Saturday.
