RR vs RCB | Player Ratings - Royal Challengers Bangalore lose fourth straight game despite Parthiv Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal heroics

04/02/2019

One more match and one more loss - it was the same old story yet again as Royal Challengers Bangalore were comprehensively beaten by Rajasthan Royals by six wickets. While the pacers underperformed to the core, Parthiv Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal were the silver linings in Virat Kohli led side.

Parthiv Patel (8/10): Parthiv is very much capable of this, just that he doesn’t do it that often. With wickets tumbling at the other end, the RCB wicket-keeper took his time understanding the pace of the wicket before collecting some boundaries and stabilizing the innings. Although he couldn’t slog for some quick runs, it is difficult to be harsh on him for that, especially on a night of top-order dilapidation.

Virat Kohli (3/10): What is there in a googly that Virat Kohli is now having such a problem facing that delivery? After Adil Rashid had made him suffer to no end in England last year, the Indian skipper failed to pick up Shreyas Gopal’s wrong’ un twice in two balls tonight. His strike rate of 92 in a 25-ball stay would take his rating further down here.

AB de Villiers (2/10): There you go, another match and another frustration for the loyal “Royal” fans. ABD walked out after Kohli’s dismissal and all he needed was to scamper through for few overs before taking his chances. While he failed eventually in his pursuit before being Gopal’s second dismissal, one thing that might haunt him that he had actually read the googly beforehand, unlike his skipper, but couldn’t properly execute the shot. Fragileness has to stop if RCB seriously want to win a game in the IPL, but ABD didn’t look like he had any intention of putting an end to the misfortune.

Shimron Hetmyer (1/10): Should the success against India just ahead of auction be given as much priority as it has been the case right now? Well, opinions can be divided on the same after Sam Curran’s terrific performance against Delhi Capitals and Hetmyer’s frustrating run with RCB. He was nowhere as close to settle himself against Gopal’s assertive googlies from the other end and a tentative poke ended his stay in the middle - with the fourth consecutive single-digit score on the bag.

Marcus Stoinis (7/10): A 31-run innings would have meant a good one, but Marcus Stoinis’ failure to put his foot on the accelerator at the end of the innings didn’t help the team’s cause. Parthiv had already given him the base and it would have been nice of Stoinis to slog a few,like he did against India and Pakistan recently.

Moeen Ali (6.5/10): After being demoted to the middle-order, the English all-rounder actually performed better, striking at 200 off the nine balls he faced. With Stoinis struggling to open the arms at the other end, Ali made sure that the team would be able to put up a competitive total at the end. His one over with the ball wasn’t very productive though as it resulted in the Royals accumulating 14 runs.

Akshdeep Nath (6/10): Didn’t get to bat today after being drafted into the side at Shivam Dube’s expense. The Uttar Pradesh cricketer would want a batting opportunity in the next match to defy the negative reputation that he was a mediocre cricketer during his stay with Kings XI Punjab last year.

Umesh Yadav (2/10): The Vidarbha pacer should go back to his hotel room and introspect, why he was given the status of “spearhead” in the team. There was no penetration whatsoever, and the good length balls were coming at a pace that was not befitting his talent and immeasurable faith put in him by the franchise. The Steve Smith drop would further make him the main candidate for the “Worst player of the match” award.

Navdeep Saini (3/10): The Delhi pacer was neither accurate with his lengths, nor did he try to compensate that on the field. By dropping a catch only in the second over of the Royals innings, Saini conceded the advantage to the hosts and eventually saw his franchise being handed the fourth consecutive loss of the tournament.

Yuzvendra Chahal (8/10): He was terrific tonight, ensuring the turn off the wicket was exploited nicely. Among all the bowlers, he was the most difficult to read thanks to the drift he was creating in the air. Was successful in picking a couple of wickets, but he was touch unfortunate as Umesh Yadav dropped a sitter at deep extra cover.

Mohammed Siraj (7.5/10): Siraj can blame it on T20 format itself if he wants, but the final figures don’t tell how well he bowled tonight. Conceded just five runs in the first two over, only to be battered in his third. But Siraj’s redemption was somewhat complete when Smith was dismissed after being dropped on two successive deliveries.