Sooryavanshi pyrotechnics help RR to fourth win on the bounce

An epic rescue act led by skipper Rajat Patidar's 40-ball 63 and lower-order cameos was all in vain as Vaibhav Sooryavanshi hacked a 26-ball 78 to script a comfortable six-wicket win for hosts Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati, with two overs to spare. Dhruv Jurel stayed unbeaten on 81 off 43 balls, guiding the team through after his century stand with Sooryavanshi paved the way for RR to stretch their unbeaten streak to four games.

Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 201/8 in 20 overs (Rajat Patidar 63 off 40, Virat Kohli 32 off 16; Ravi Bishnoi 2-32, Jofra Archer 2-33, Brijesh Sharma 2-37) lost to Rajasthan Royals 202/4 in 18 overs (Dhruv Jurel 81* off 43, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 78 off 26; Krunal Pandya 2-30, Josh Hazlewood 2-44) by 6 wickets.

Match Phases

RCB's Innings: A Recovery and a Collapse
After losing Phil Salt off the first ball to Jofra Archer, Virat Kohli took charge, making a 10-ball 22 in a quickfire 45-run partnership with Devdutt Padikkal. Kohli found the fence seven times in his 16-ball knock before his wicket opened the floodgates, with RCB slipping from 45/1 in the third over to 76/5 in the ninth.

Skipper Rajat Patidar then held one end together, forging small partnerships to settle in. He went on the offensive in the 15th over with a couple of maximums against Nandre Burger and dished out similar treatment to Ravi Bishnoi, raising a 35-ball half-century. After Patidar fell to Sandeep Sharma, Impact Sub Venkatesh Iyer took on the pacer for 21 runs in the final over to push RCB past 200.

RR's Chase: The Sooryavanshi Blitz
The 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi dealt in boundaries and rained sixes. Of the 97 runs RR scored in the Powerplay, Sooryavanshi accounted for 57 himself in just 18 deliveries. He spared neither Bhuvneshwar Kumar nor Josh Hazlewood. The highlight was arguably the fourth over, where a hat-trick of boundaries was followed by a nonchalant pull over deep square leg off Hazlewood, forcing an early RCB bowling change.

Jurel's Anchored Finish
Dhruv Jurel hammered home the advantage, taking on Abhinandan Singh for a 24-run final Powerplay over to race to 27* off 10 balls. After losing Sooryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, and skipper Riyan Parag in quick succession, Jurel led the way, stitching a 68-run unbroken stand with Ravindra Jadeja to seal the win.

Upcoming Fixtures
RCB head to Mumbai to play the Indians at the Wankhede on Sunday (April 12). RR travel south to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday (April 13).