PremiumOpener Devdutt Padikkal and skipper Virat Kohli guided Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to an eight-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Saturday.
Chasing a moderate target of 155, RCB had a 25-run brief partnership for the first wicket. Shreyas Gopal provided the first breakthrough for Rajasthan as he dismissed Aaron Finch (8) in the third over.
Skipper Virat Kohli then joined Devdutt Padikkal in the middle and built a huge 99-run partnership for the second wicket. Meanwhile, Padikkal scored his third half-century of the season. He played a knock of 63 runs before he was bowled by Jofra Archer in the 16th over.
AB de Villiers and Kohli had an unbeaten stand of 34-run and took the side over the line. Kolhi remained unbeaten on 72 runs while ABD scored 12* runs.
Earlier, a late onslaught by Rahul Tewatia and a gutsy knock by Mahipal Lomror powered Rajasthan Royals to post a total of 154 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
Tewatia smashed three sixes and scored 24 runs at a strike of 200 to take Royals over 150 run mark. Royals smashed 37 runs in their last three overs.
Opting to bat first, Royals got off to a flyer with Jos Buttler smashing boundaries early in the innings. However, Isuru Udana found an inside edge of Steve Smith's bat and the ball went straight onto his stumps in the third over.
Three balls later, a sharp catch by Devdutt Padikkal in the slips dismissed Buttler. Star batsman Sanju Samson wicket in the next over added insult to an injury as Royals got reduced to 31/3.
Mahipal Lomror then Robin Uthappa in the middle and the dup put on a 39 run stand for the fourth wicket.
The partnership which revamped Royals' innings also witnessed a sluggish knock by Uthappa before he got out in the 11th over. The right-handed batsman scored 17 off 22 balls. Yuzvendra Chahal ended Lomror's (47) knock in the 17th over.
The left-handed batsman played an important knock and rebuilt Royals' innings. In the death overs, Jofra Archer and Rahul Tewatia whacked some boundaries to take the Royals to a respectable total after a bad start.
For RCB, Chahal picked three while Udana scalped two wickets.
RCB will next take on Delhi Capitals on Monday, October 3 while Rajasthan will face Mumbai Indians on Tuesday, September 6.
This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.
