Live Report: Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2022, Pune

It's a prospect that didn't look likely at 102 for 6 early in the game. But Royals have shown admirable batting depth. A side rhat rode piggyback on Jos Buttler so far were given a massive fright, only for a 20-year old in Riyan Parag to bail them out.

He made an impressive 31-ball 56 not out to get them to 145, and then their bowlers took over. Ashwin, Chahal, Kuldeep (Sen) all exhibited their mastery to drag RCB to the pits. A second straight loss has temproarily put the brakes on their campaign that appeared to be a smooth sail until three nights ago. Royals meanwhile vault themselves to the top of the standings.

Really, it was just Wanindu Hasaranga who stood between Royals and a sixth win. But he's fallen to give Kuldeep Sen his third. Once again, Sen's skiddy pace proves too much for the batters. Hasaranga wants to pull but the bowler saw him making room and banged it in to cramp him for room, the top-edge was gobbled up without much fuss. Plenty of runs still to go. RCB 103 for 8.

Yuzvendra Chahal thought he had reprieved Dinesh Karthik, but it turns out he actually covered up for his right royal mess in grabbing the ball and breaking the stumps at the bowler's end.

Okay, so here's what happened:

Shahbaz pushed the ball towards short mid-on. DK called, Shahbaz didn't move. By the time he turned back, Chahal failed to collect Prasidh's throw as the ball slipped off his palms. Karthik was so consumed by the moment that he didn't show urgency in getting back, which is why despite the mess-up, Chahal still managed to effect the run out as he reached out to pick up the ball and break the bails.

RCB's win percentage after over 14 has dropped to. 8.52

He's 35, pushing 36, but is bowling as well as he ever has in T20 cricket, perhaps.

How the game has turned.

R Ashwin first foxes a wobby Rajat Patidar with a carrom ball that fizzes through from wide of the crease to beat his cut. Then in his next over, the third, he has an edgy Suyash Prabhuddesai drag a nicely tossed up delivery down long-on's throat.

RCB's win probabiluty after 12 overs is a mere 29.68%

Dinesh Karthik comes in at No. 7 with plenty of pressure to content with. But his record against Chahal has been ordinary: the legspinner has dismissed him thrice in nine innings, with Karthik scoring at a strike rate of only 83.

Will this be the match-up that decides the contest tonight?

Raw pace is his biggest strength. Kuldeep’s Instagram handle is’150kuldeep’. No surprise then both his wickets were the result of pace. Faf was rushed into his stroke as he tried to slap one over cover, only to be cramped. Maxwell nicked to slip.

If there's one batter who has seen a lot of him lately, it is Rajat Patidar. Both him and Kuldeep are teammates at Madhya Pradesh in the Indian domestic circuit.

No slarms just yet, but Rajat Patidar, making a comeback of sorts after being picked as a replacement, is 2 off 7. All the pressure that was being built up has borne fruit. Faf managed to get one away for six off Ashwin, but has fallen almost immediately trying to slap one through the off side. RCB 37/2 in the 7th.

Favourable match-ups or no, when it's not going your way, it's not going your way.

Virat Kohli is beaten for pace by a skiddy Prasidh Krishna bouncer. Gets a thin edge onto the helmet as he shapes to pull and the ball bobbles up to Riyan Parag at point. The umpire looked in doubt but Kohli didn't make matters tough for him by choosing to walk off.

He could've been out twice in the first over. Instead, he has nine.

Kohli's uppish flick lands inches short of Daryl Mitchell at square leg. The next two balls disappear to the boundary. The first of those a juicy half-volley that is flicked imperiously between midwicket and square leg. The next is a streaky thick inside edge that flies wide of the keeper.Kohli's riding luck already.

He's set to open the batting. And already it's looking good with the match-ups all in his favour.

Against Boult: 42 balls, 60 runs, 0 dismissals, strike rate 143
Against Prasidh: 27 balls, 56 runs, 1 dismissal, strike rate 207
Against Ashwin: 127 balls, 162 runs, 1 dismissal, strike rate 127

Can these match-ups favour him tonight? He's been in poor form, but couldn't have asked for a better platform from the bowlers to find his rhythm. Let's go.

That's the last two overs of Royals' innings. All those fours and sixes came off Riyan Parag's bat, and they came after a 43-ball stretch of no boundaries in the Royals innings. And Parag had also been responsible for the two boundaries before that, a six and a four off Shahbaz Ahmed in the 11th over. Basically, Parag was the only Royals batter to find the ropes in the second half of the innings.

Parag finishes unbeaten on 56 off 31 balls, which is quite an effort given the circumstances of Royals' innings. Royals have shown a lot of faith in him through some pretty lean times, and this innings kind of showed why. Some terrific shots especially towards the end, particularly a six over extra-cover off Hazlewood in the 19th over and a pair of pulls in the final over off Harshal.

You'd call RCB favourites to chase down 145, but Parag has given a quality Royals attack something to bowl at.

... have brought the Royals just 31 runs (and no boundaries) for the loss of three wickets, with Harshal Patel now sending back Boult. Royals are 114 for 7 in 18.

It has happened. Shimron Hetmyer has fallen early. Looks to slog-sweep a wrong'un, and it ends up being the wrong'un to take on because the length is a little shorter than he'd like, and he ends up slicing the ball high in the air and not as far as he'd like to hit it, and long-on rushes in off the rope to take the high catch.

Royals are 102 for 6 in 15.3 overs, and their lack of depth is going to hurt them here. Trent Boult, one of the great Test-match No. 11s, is in at No. 8.

The over before the Mitchell dismissal was delivered by Glenn Maxwell. A risk to try and get away an over of your offspinner against two right-handers, you'd think, but Maxwell, delivering it flat and leg-stumpish from around the wicket, conceded just four singles to Mitchell and Riyan Parag off that over. That surely contributed to the pressure that led to the wicket in the next one.

It's not to be today for Mitchell. Goes after a slower ball from Hazlewood and picks out the fielder at long-on. Royals are 99 for 5 in 14.2 overs.

Ideal entry point for Shimron Hetmyer, you'd have to say. He's not been dismissed for below 25 even once this season. He's in unreal form, but he'll be fighting not just RCB's bowlers today but also the law of averages.

That's Daryl Mitchell's score at this moment. He's struggled to find his timing so far, and has mostly been muscling the ball to deep fielders for singles. But we know what he can do after this sort of struggle.

For now, Royals are 95 for 4 in 13 overs.

Here's what Samson's T20 record against Hasaranga looks like now: five dismissals in 23 balls. Ouch.

Samson faces two balls from the legspinner in the 10th over, and tries to reverse-sweep both. He misses both times, and the second time, the wrong'un knocks back his off stump.

Royals are 69 for 4 at the halfway mark. ESPNcricinfo's forecaster gives them a projected total of 155.

Here's his record against spin this season. His average and strike rate have fattened up a little more over the course of the eighth over, during which he hit Shahbaz Ahmed for two effortless sixes over long-off and extra-cover.

Royals are 65 for 3 after eight overs.

Faf du Plessis brings on Hasaranga for the last over of the powerplay, almost as soon as Samson has come to the crease. He knows his match-ups. Hasaranga, however, bowls a below-par over, offering width twice and getting punched for a four off the back foot and driven over the covers for a sweet, sweet six. Ten off the over, and Royals end the powerplay at 43 for 3.

Stop the press. Jos Buttler is out. Out early. For 8 off 9 balls. Royals are 33 for 3 in 4.1 overs.

Josh Hazlewood gets the wicket, cramping Buttler on a pull that morphs into a not very powerful flat-bat slap, and gets him caught at mid-on by an alert Siraj who grabs it while tumbling low to his left.

Ashwin is clearly not your traditional, muscular pinch-hitter, but Gaurav Sundararaman suggests he might be something of a pinch-blocker. "The reason is they know the PP is where wickets get lost and they want to protect the main batters," he says. "I won't technically call this a move to pinch hit but more to ensure good batters play at the right time."

Which makes sense given Royals' lack of batting depth.

I think there's another reason too - which is that while Ashwin may lack the raw power to hit boundaries when the field is spread, he's capable of finding the gaps within the powerplay with what you might call proper cricketing shots.

He hits four fours in that manner in successive overs from Siraj - a leg-side flick, a front-foot drive past cover point, a square-cut bisecting backward point and third man, and a not-entirely-controlled whip through midwicket - and then gets out attempting another aggressive hit, miscuing a hard-length ball back to the bowler via the top edge.

He's out for 17 off 9, a most useful hand, and Royals are 33 for 2 in four overs.

It's not always easy for a right-arm quick bowling over the wicket to get a left-hander lbw, but Mohammed Siraj does it by going very full. Devdutt Padikkal, who had hit a lovely straight six three balls earlier, looks to flick and plays all around the ball as it straightens past his inside edge.

He's called for a review, but it just looks very out. Full enough to take away the doubt that it may have pitched outside leg. Yup, it's pitched on around middle and leg, and it's crashing into the lower half of middle and leg as well.

Royals are 11 for 1 in 1.4 overs, and Padikkal is gone for 7.

Aha. For the second time this season, Royals have promoted R Ashwin to No. 3. Interesting...

Faf du Plessis has confirmed that Kohli will open alongside him. One change for RCB, with Rajat Patidar coming in for the out-of-form Anuj Rawat. Patidar played a handful of times for RCB last season, and scored a pair of 31s against Capitals and Punjab Kings, both times batting at No. 3.

Two changes for Rajasthan Royals, with Daryl Mitchell and Kuldeep Sen coming in for Karun Nair and Obed McCoy. The blistering form of Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson and Shimron Hetmyer has covered it up pretty well so far this season, but Royals continue to carry a distinct lack of batting depth, with R Ashwin slotted at No. 7.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Rajat Patidar, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Shahbaz Ahmed, 6 Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Mohammed Siraj, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Sanju Samson (capt, wk), 4 Shimron Hetmyer, 5 Daryl Mitchell, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Kuldeep Sen, 9 Trent Boult, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Yuzvendra Chahal.