Kerala batsman hits 63, Watson stars as all-rounder in Rajasthan’s victory over RCB to keep home record intact
For Rajasthan Royals, adversity is the mother of invention. On Monday, while facing the mighty Royal Challengers Bangalore, they found a new hero for the day in Sanju Samson, who played a big part in their victory.
Some anxious moments in the form of two wickets, of a set Brad Hodge and Owais Shah, in the last over by R Vinay Kumar, while chasing a stiff 172 did cost the Jaipur crowd some fingernails but when Stuart Binny hit the winning runs, the Sawai Man Singh stadium here in the Pink City erupted at what the Royals had achieved. The last time Rajasthan had beaten Bangalore in Jaipur, was in 2008 when captain Rahul Dravid was donning the skipper's hat on the opposite side.
But Monday was different, four-wicket victory over Bangalore has given Rajasthan 12 points from nine matches and are firm third on the points table, though still behind RCB on run-rate — both teams have equal points — but they have played a game less.
In pressure situations, Rajasthan have found men who win them matches on a particular day. In 2008, when they won the inaugural edition, it was someone like Swapnil Asnodkar, five years later, for Monday, they found Sanju Samson. This 18-year-old wicket-keeper batsman from Kerala played some unorthodox shots, in between some hefty strikes, in his 63-run innings of 41balls which included seven fours and two sixes to take the Royals to a winning position.
Coming to bat at number three, his side was chasing a challenging 172 against a potent four-pronged pace attack of Bangalore in Ravi Rampaul, Jaidev Unadkat, RP Singh and Vinay Kumar, Samson kept attacking and to his luck paved way for Rajasthan's fifth win at home in as many matches this season.
From the beginning of the run chase, Rajasthan Royals innings looked to have the momentum. Though Dravid was dropped on the very first ball by his counterpart captain Virat Kohli — Dravid edged Rampaul's away-going delivery to second slip but Kohli dropped it while diving to his left — he hit two boundaries off the over, one deliberately played over the slips while the other was a cut shot, to start the Royals innings on a high.
Dravid's partner Ajinkya Rahane went early, trying to pull a Rampaul delivery but top-edged it to RP Singh at fine leg. Royals have manoeuvred their batting order in the tournament and, on Monday, chose to bring Shane Watson at four, after Samson.
On his very first ball, the Kerala lad pulled Kumar to the mid-on boundary and then another one on the mid-wicket boundary, making his intentions clear. In between, he looked scratchy, trying to hit the ball but completely missing the line and length on more than one occasion. But, two more fours to the same bowler in his next over meant he was effective.
The best shots of his innings came in the eighth over bowled by Murali Karthik. Dravid had just got out, he was deceived by a Moises Henriques, who replaced Thilakaratne Dilshan for RCB, slower delivery and got bowled. The Rajasthan score read 48 for 2 after seven overs and the required run-rate was inching towards 10. Karthik tossed his first ball up to the batsman and Samson heaved it over extra-cover for a six. A similar shot on the next ball with the same result, though flatter, gave the home side the required push to chase down the target.
By the time Samson got out, the Rajasthan score read 116 for 3 in 14.2 overs, requiring 56 from 34 balls. Shane Watson was set on the other end and was in between his 41-run effort. He was joined by Brad Hodge (32 from 18 balls) and the duo shared a 42-run stand in 25 balls to put Rajasthan almost at the doors of victory.
Earlier, after being put into bat and at 39 for no loss at the end of three over and Chris Gayle going strong, Bangalore looked like heading towards a big score. There innings was divided into three phases — pacey start, scratchy middle part and a very late flurry of sixes which helped them reach 171. It was Watson the all-rounder, who turned up for Rajasthan on Monday.
Hosts opened with Ajit Chandila so that Gayle would not get the pace to play his shots but to no effect as the left-hander creamed the off-spinner to three boundaries for starters. Things changed though when the Australian was introduced. Gayle poked at a shortish delivery just outside off-stump only to see it safe into the hands of the wicketkeeper Samson. At that time the RCB score read a healthy 44 for 1 in four overs. Watson went on to take two more wickets, Kohli and Rampaul, to finish with exemplary figures of 3 for 22 in four overs.
But the innings seemed to have lost the flow then as wickets at regular intervals, resulting from false shots by premier batsmen like Kohli and AB de Villiers — both men after being set, just hit the balls in the air only to be caught — saw them reach 123 for 4 at the end of the 16th over.
Vinay Kumar's three sixes in the final over of the Purple cap holder James Faulkner, who had a forgettable birthday as far as personal performance goes giving away 42 in four overs without a wicket, saw the score go past 170.
Brief Scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 171/6 (Chris Gayle 34, Virat Kohli 32, Vinay Kumar 22 not out; Shane Watson 3/22) lost to Rajasthan Royals: 173/6 in 19.5 overs (Sanju Samson 63, Shane Watson 41, Brad Hodge 32; Ravi Rampaul 2/28) by four wickets.