Pacer Prasidh Krishna came back strongly from the hammering he received in the last game to help Rajasthan Royals restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 157 for eight in Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League on Friday.
Rajat Patidar extended his stellar run in the IPL with a 42-ball 58 but his effort was the lone bright spot of the RCB innings as the other batters struggled on a pitch that offered extra bounce to the pacers.
Royals gained the upper hand by taking five wickets in the last five overs that went for only 34 runs.
After smashing a sensational hundred in the Eliminator, Patidar played with supreme confidence after high-profile openers Virat Kohli (7) and Faf fu Plessis (25) failed to come up with impactful knocks.
Rajasthan Royals pace duo of Trent Boult (1/28) and Krishna (3/22) were impressive throughout the innings.
While Boult got his inswingers going in the powerplay, Krishna, who had a horror night against Gujarat Titans in the Qualifier 1, got the ball to rise sharply from good length.
Kohli started with a spectacular six off Boult, a whip over deep square leg, before falling to a loose shot off Krishna. It was a wide ball that rose sharply and Kohli played away from his body to edge it to the wicketkeeper. The extra bounce contributed to his dismissal.
Patidar joined du Plessis in the middle and again played as if he was batting on a different surface. He was dropped by Riyan Parag at backward point early in the innings after he collected two fours off Krishna in the same over. Both were delightful strokes, the first being a cracking cut shot before a stunning back-foot punch between the cover and backward point.
He also went after the star spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs and brought up his fifty with a clean strike over long-off.
Glenn Maxwell hit a six each against Ashwin and Chahal before Boult outsmarted him. Boult invited him to pull over deep fine leg and the Australian failed to clear the boundary with Obed McCoy taking a brilliant catch.
Royals bowlers were able to stifle RCB in the death overs.
Krishna, hammered for three straight sixes in the final over against Gujarat, lifted his game in the slog overs as well to dismiss the in-form Dinesh Karthik and Wanindu Hasaranga off successive balls.
