Abu Dhabi: Royal Challengers Bangalore staged an excellent comeback as Rajasthan Royals blew away a blistering start to finish at 149/9. RCB chased down the target in 17.1 overs, thanks to Glenn Maxwell's unbeaten 30-ball 50.
Left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed (2/10) and leg-break bowler Yuzvendra Chahal (2/18) triggered the slide after RR cruising at 100 for one in the 11th over.
Pacer Harshal Patel (3/34) came close to picking a hat-trick in successive matches, in the final over, but Kartik Tyagi denied him that as RR lost eight wickets for 49 runs. Evin Lewis top-scored with 58 off 37 balls, but he was guilty of throwing away his wicket at a crucial juncture, and so was skipper Sanju Samson (19), whose adventurism did not help his team.
Asked to take first strike, RR saw off two quiet overs before Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal (31) decided to cut loose. From eight for two in two overs, RR were cruising at 39 for no loss at the end of fourth before racing past the fifty-run mark in the next over, with Lewis being the aggressor.
Jaiswal played the day's first scoring shot when he hit Mohammed Siraj through the cover and in the next over, he clobbered Glenn Maxwell for a huge six over long on.
Lewis took over after that, smashing debutant English left-arm pacer George Garton for two sixes and a four as RR picked 18 off the over.
Garton was coming back into the attack after being strangely taken off despite a very economical first over.
Lewis hammered another six and a four against Harshal Patel, as RR crossed the fifty in the fifth over.
India pacer Mohammed Siraj came back to bowl a tight sixth over but Jaiswal got two boundaries off Daniel Christian to record RR's best opening partnership of the ongoing season, even as Kohli kept switching his bowlers frequently.
Maxwell kept things tight in the next over, giving away just four runs, before Jaiswal smoked Christian for a maximum over extra cover. However, Christian had the last laugh as Jaiswal mistimed and failed to clear Siraj at mid off.
It swung a bit early on but the fast bowlers didn't get much purchase from the pitch as the innings progressed.
Brief scores
(RR 149/9 (E Lewis 58; H Patel 3/34, Y Chahal 2/18, S Ahmed 2/10) lost to RCB 153/3 in 17.1 overs (S Bharat 44, G Maxwell 50*; M Rahman 2/20) by seven wickets
PointS tally
TEAM M W L PT
CSK 10 8 2 16
DC 11 8 3 16
RCB 11 7 4 14
KKR 11 5 6 10
MI 11 5 6 10
PBKS 11 4 7 8
RR 11 4 7 8
SRH 10 2 8 4
