RR vs RCB, 39th Match at Pune, IPL, Apr 26 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

11:39pm There you go! A sweet, smiling chat with Parag, who was pretty much everywhere today, to cap off an excellent win for the Royals. That's that from our coverage for tonight. Tomorrow, Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad clash at the Wankhede. Do join us then. On behalf of Andrew and the scorers, I, S. Sudarshanan, bid you goodbye. Ciao, aficionados!

The player of the match for his 56* off 31 to go with his four catches is Riyan Parag: A little bit of satisfaction. The Royals have backed me for the last three years and I am paying off bit by bit. I love pressure and try to showcase my abilities and do my best. During the timeout, we agreed on 140 to be a good score and we tried that and worked well in the end. Hasaranga's second over to me, I wanted to target him but had to curtail it because we lost wickets and then go after Hazlewood and Harshal.

Akshaye: "Also pretty impressive how RR are top of the table after losing 7 out of 8 tosses!"

Sanju Samson, RR captain: Really great win looking at the start we had. It was looking dicey after the 15 overs and it all thanks to a certain Riyan Parag. We have been backing him and he came in and showed the world how explosive he can be. We were 10-15 runs short with no dew and the wicket turning a bit. We were waiting for the back end of the batting order to go out and win matches. Almost everyone has put up a match-winning performance until now. The chat before the second innings was that in a total like this and conditions like this, it is tough for batters to change gears. It was a matter of putting in pressure. We do make a couple of changes here and there based on the opponents and conditions. But it is important to give clarity to people who are being dropped. Credit to Karun to accept and understand that we needed Mitchell's one over today and he can come in later.

11:23pm It was a game set up beautifully by Riyan Parag's knock, wasn't it? Walking in at 4/68 before the halfway stage, he was under pressure due to the situation as well as due to the lack of runs on his part. But how well did he first steady the ship, keep Rajasthan Royals on course, before opening up his arms to help them get to a total they could have hoped to defend.

From thereon, the momentum was with the side in pink as they executed their bowling plans to the T. The hard lengths were the problem child for batters, and they dished out just that to the Royal Challengers Bangalore batters, who were already under pressure due to lack of regular contributions. You have to give an extra bit to that planning around Glenn Maxwell's dismissal, pushing him back just with the field placements and snaring him early. Superb stuff, much-deserved win for the Royals.

Saurabh Mantri : "First place is see-saw between RR and GT. If Hyderabad wins tomorrow then they will be on top of the table."

Syed: "Shane Warne would've been a happy man this season"

Kuldeep Sen: (On pressure) After my second game, I missed a couple of games as I suffered a side strain at the nets during practice. Watching Hazlewood and Siraj, I realised that the ball was stopping a bit. So the plan was to bowl hard lengths. The talks were about hitting the right lengths and preventing run-flow, since we had seen that in the first innings.

Ronald Dunai: "The reason why RR is top of the table. A different player steps up in each match to win the game for them when the others fail. A few matches ago it was Hetmyer, then Chahal, last match it was Butler, today it's Parag. "

RCB captain Faf du Plessis: It's pretty similar to the previous game. If you hit the deck hard in the first few overs, it is hard to get away. The dropped chance cost us. The top order is a trick we need to fix. You need someone in the top four to bat through and we haven't done that consistently. We tried changing the batting lineup today and we feel that they can try playing positively. Can't go into a shell. (On Kohli) Great players go through phases like this and we wanted to get him in the game straightaway so that he doesn't sit in the sidelines and think about the game. It's a game of confidence.

Sandeep Sahu: "Chahal goes wicketless for the first time in this season. But how good were RR bowling unit as a whole!"

11:15pm Celebrations in the Royals' dugout after the 29-run win and why not! It has been a clinical bowling performance to register their sixth win out of eight and go atop. The introspection for the Royal Challengers will go on for long, you'd imagine. That ends Rajasthan's five-game losing streak against Bengaluru.

Shrey: "Parag scored 23 runs after being dropped by Hasaranga in the penultimate over. That drop has come to bite them back as the difference of defeat is so close to the 23 runs."

Kuldeep for the final over. 3/20 so far.

Chahal's last

Prasidh around the stumps to Hazlewood.

"I suppose RCB batting has at least improved from their last outing. Not saying a lot, though. " You are being cheeky, James.

Prasidh.

Neelesh: "Did not see anyone so cool and calm while taking a catch.. Riyan Prayag has such soft hands and keeps his body so steady... a masterclass for any fielder.."

Mo Siraj!

Ashwin is off the field and in the dugout.

Samson goes to the bowler to have a quiet word

Here's Kuldeep Sen into his third. 51 needed off 24, win predictor firmly in Royals' favour. CSK needed 47 off the last four overs yesterday.